The Legend of Spyro: Challenge of Hearts
by Path Unknown
Summary: Malefor has been defeated, and the dragon temple is returning to it's peaceful way of life. But when a dream can never come true, a drastic measure is taken for a special someone.. Most likely my last story.. Spyro/Cynder Flame/Ember.. ON HOLD
1. Getting Together

Well, well, well.......

Look who's back by POPULAR DEMAND!

In the efforts of saving time... I'll just apologise for taking this story off the net in the first place.....

But, for the sake of speeding things up....

Let's just get to the story....

Enjoy the 15-odd chapters that I am re-posting over the next 5 minutes, and this story is now BACK in the update list..... So, that means it WILL have an ending.... probably as original and idiotic as the idiot writing it.....

(me): "hey!"

Quiet you!

Anyway.... ENJOY FOR THE SECOND TIME (unless you're new here) then look forward to reading what has been named both incredible and brilliant.....

don't ask who said it, just believe me.... It WILL be worth it....

**ENJOY** The Legend of Spyro: Challenge of Hearts

* * *

**Chapter 1:Getting Together**

The sun streamed through the translucent curtains that flapped in the winds. There was a young black dragoness lying in the morning sun. The black dragoness had gone through most of her life fighting against those that she now lives amongst. But with the dragon race upon the edge of disappearance, Cynder was welcomed to stay within the confines of the dragon temple. Yet even with her assistance to Spyro, the purple dragon of legend, which pulled their world back from the edge of disaster from the Dark Master, Malefor.

It had been two full weeks since the final battle which decided the fate of their world, and Cynder had found herself growing to accept many different, and new, facts. That she would now be treated as an equal by the rest of her race, by the decree from the current guardians to never have her past brought up. But in return Cynder would have to contribute to their cause in any way she could. But almost immediately after the Dark Master had been defeated, Avalarhad become peaceful to anything or anyone that lived within its boundaries. Which left Cynder with only one choice to help the dragon's cause, and that was to have a family. But such a simple task was hard to come by for the dragoness. For her past had been riddled with traitorous acts that drove off many that she might've desired. Despite the fact that she was one of the few remaining females amongst them, Cynder had seemingly been shunned by all other dragons living in the temple. She was trusted enough to be able to live there, but avoided at all costs by the other dragons.

As more of her body became engulfed by the morning light, Cynder slowly came to, and awoke. _Yet another day._ Cynder took a deep breath and sighed. _Yet another day of seclusion._

The young dragoness rose to her feet and stretched out her limbs, feeling her joints crack as each one reached its maximum length. Cynder had never felt the same since the defeat of Malefor. There was much that she didn't know about the battle too. For when Spyro and Malefor had launched both their energies at each other, Cynder leant all of her strength to Spyro, joining all of what she had with his power. After several minutes of struggling against the Dark Master, Cynder had used all of her energy, causing her to lose consciousness. The last thing she heard was Spyro seemingly scream her name, but then all had turned black.

When Cynder had woken up days later, she was inside the Dragon Temple, effectively being accepted by the guardians upon arrival. But she hadn't seen Spyro since the battle. Cynder wanted to thank the purple dragon for what he had done, how he had freed her from the grasp of darkness that controlled her mind and body, but most importantly, how he had freed the world from evil. But today would be different for the black dragoness. She would purposefully seek him out, and confront the one that saved her.

* * *

_How can I meet her?_ Spyro had been awake for hours, trying to run a conversation with Cynder through his mind. The purple dragon had been avoiding her at all cost, on the off chance that he was to make a fool of himself. _What if she asks me…_ Spyro was lost for thoughts.

Ever since he had rescued Cynder from the Dark Masters power, Spyro found himself strangely connected with her. It was something that he couldn't explain, yet refused to tell anyone else of, on the risk of having his reputation of being the saviour ruined. It was times like these when he wished that Ignitus was still alive.

The fire guardian had given his life so that Spyro could escape from the Dark Masters capture. For the battle had already been won by Malefor. As Spyro had released Cynder from her possessed form, Malefor took the split second that Spyro was distracted to become frozen by his power. But Ignitus stepped forward to challenge the Dark Master, sending enough of his power to release Spyro, allowing both younger dragons to escape with their lives.

_Why must this be so hard?_ Spyro looked out the window, feeling the warming sun against his scales. There was much of the world that he could have, just by asking. But there was much more that he desired. _I must speak to her, even if it is just a thank you._ Spyro admitted defeat, going with the lesser of two evils, wanting to at least get the confrontation over and done with before anything was to happen.

Spyro walked out of his room and down the entirety of the Dragon Temple's corridor to reach Cynder's. Spyro had been given the room closest to the main entryway. The only dragons that held better accommodation were the guardians alone. But in everyone's eyes, Spyro deserved better than that. Cynder, on the other hand, had opted to take a room away from all the others. Sure it would mean a little extra walking, but she didn't mind, as long as the other dragons would've left her alone.

Upon reaching the entrance to Cynder's room Spyro's nerves started to take effect. He was worried as to her reaction of finding him in front of her door before the day's activities started. But Spyro found himself unable to confront the black dragoness. He was afraid for the first time since the battle against the Dark Master. But it was a new kind of fear, one that Spyro hadn't had the chance to allow inside himself. One that he didn't have time to deal with during the war against Malefor. It was the fear of losing the one he cared for.

Spyro stood before the door to Cynder's room, but the whole scene didn't seem natural. It wasn't something that he wanted to be seen doing. _Why can't I do this?_ Spyro turned away from Cynder's door, and started walking away from the black dragoness' room.

* * *

_I've got to see him! I'll just go to his room, and say thank you._ Cynder was having the same problems. _That's it. Just a thank you… I'm allowed to do that? Right?_ Cynder had been asking herself questions for the past ten minutes, again, trying to find a liable reason to confront the purple dragon. _That's it!_

Cynder walked through her entryway and spotted the tip of Spyro's tail disappearing down the end of the corridor. Cynder angered at herself for taking so long, she had just missed Spyro again. But this time she was determined to catch up with him.

The black dragoness bounded down the long corridor, reaching the turn Spyro had taken and stopped at the intersection. Cynder paused for a moment, she knew that Spyro wouldn't have gotten far, and finding him would be as easy as following her nose. So that is what she did.

Cynder quickly found Spyro's scent trail leading down the stairs into the main foyer of the dragon temple. She continued to dash around the structure stopping at every intersection following the trail of Spyro, which she found to be incredibly easy.

Cynder turned the final corner, finally catching up with the purple dragon on the way to the pool of visions. But Cynder froze mid-stride upon finding Ember aside Spyro, visibly trying to get closer to him. Cynder's insides began to boil. It wasn't that she hated Ember, but it was that Ember insisted on trying to get close to Spyro despite the fact that he had clearly explained to her that he wasn't interested. Cynder proceeded to close in on the two, wondering what they were talking about at the time.

"-told you before Ember. It's not going to happen between us." Spyro continued on his way, only to have Ember grab his tail with one of her forelegs, causing a slight yelp as it reached its maximum stretch.

"And I've told you before Spyro. I'm not going to take no for an answer."

"Ember, let me go. Why don't you annoy Flame for a change?"

Ember released Spyro's tail with a huff. "Maybe I will…" Ember continued on her way past Spyro, rubbing the tip of her tail along his side as she passed. It took all of Cynder's self control not to tear the pink dragoness apart.

Spyro turned away from Ember. "One day she is goi-" Spyro saw Cynder staring at him. "Cynder… It's so great that I found you."

"But I was looking for you Spyro." Cynder turned her head away for a second. On the inside she was blushing, but lucky enough the black of her scales didn't show any other colour.

There was a long moments silence as the two dragons stared upon each other. "I wanted to thank you for-" They both said at the same time.

"Spyro, you saved my life and released me from my torment of being Malefor's slave."

"And you gave all you could to help in the final battle when I defeated the Dark Master."

They both looked at each other for a few moments. "I couldn't have done it without you." Both dragons said again.

Spyro started to walk past Cynder, leaving her stunned form with the same dumbfounded look it had gained when Spyro had said that he was looking for her. _Say something!_ Cynder's mind was screaming at her to prolong her conversation with Spyro. "Spyro?"

The purple dragon stopped and whirled around instantly taking another gaze at the black dragoness. "What is it Cynder?"

_Crap, think of something!_ Cynder glanced around the corridor finding nothing that would spring another thought, but then she came up with an idea. "Spyro, if there is anything that I can do to repay you for freeing me from the Dark Masters power, don't hesitate to ask."

"Cynder, you owe me nothing. We both have helped each other equally over the past few weeks. And I'm sure that our paths will cross again." Spyro started to turn around, but stopped realising something. "Why are you down here anyway?"

Cynder was trapped. She could either tell him the truth, and hope that he wouldn't get mad, or make up an excuse and stay beside him longer. The latter was her choice. "I got lost trying to find the training room. Lucky I ran into you down here though."

Spyro gave a sceptical look, he knew that Cynder had been given a tour of most of the Dragon Temple. But with its sheer volume, it was easy to get lost in, so he accepted the lie. "The training rooms are upstairs. In fact, I think almost everything is upstairs from where we are. But why would you be training now? Everything is at peace now, why would there be need to train?"

"What if I like to stay active and healthy? Rather than just doing nothing at all…" Cynder looked down at the floor, Spyro hadn't taken his eyes off her for a moment during their conversation. And as far as she knew Spyro hadn't even blinked the whole time. "Why are you looking at me like that Spyro?"

The purple dragon shook his head slightly, coming back from his waking dream. "W-wha-? Sorry, Cynder? What was that?"

Spyro's face colour shaded slightly, deepening its natural glow to a very dark red. "Never mind. Could you show me the way out of here?"

"Yeah… Sure. It's this way." Spyro looked away from Cynder for the first time since their conversation had started. Cynder naturally felt strange having another dragon ogle over her. But it was something that she could almost get used to, as long as it was Spyro who was staring.

* * *

"I'll show him… Spyro wants me to annoy Flame, so let's see how much of me he can handle." Ember had made her way up into the main foyer of the dragon temple. "Now, where would he be?" Ember glanced around the main entryway, finding nothing within sight that even lead to any sign of Flame. "Ancestors, where is that dragon?"

"Where is who?" Ember jumped upon hearing the voice of Flame behind her. The pink dragoness dug her claws into the soft ground underneath her, regaining her calm composure from before.

"Flame! You scared me!" The pink dragoness yelled back at him.

"I'm sorry, but there was som-"

"It's ok Flame." Ember seemed to calm herself much faster than expected, starting to circle around Flame, taking every step slower than the last. "In fact, there was something I wanted to see you about."

"W-wha-? Why would you want to see me?" Flame could obviously see that Ember was looking him over. At first it caused him to act nervous. He had always liked Ember, but she was always too busy chasing Spyro to notice his moves towards her. This had always frustrated him to the point of almost telling Ember how he felt. But Flame knew better than that, Ember wouldn't accept him until Spyro had either hurt her or was already taken.

"No reason…" Ember continued around Flame, she had moved unnaturally close to the red dragon, not that he minded.

"Ember, what are you doing? If this is a trick, it's not funny." Flame had turned around and faced the pink dragoness, who stopped completely staring almost straight through Flame's red eyes.

"Would I trick you… Flame?" Ember ran the tip of her tail up the side of Flame's right foreleg. He relished the contact between them.

Flame almost lost control of himself. The touch from Ember's tail against his scales almost drove him crazy, and she knew it. But Ember remembered that it would only be to make Spyro jealous, so that was all she needed.

"Why don't you and I go… out… For a while?" Ember brushed against Flame's side, enticing him to follow, regardless of what his mind was saying.

* * *

Spyro and Cynder had stopped at the entrance into the main foyer. The two had seen everything between Ember and Flame, yet both of them said nothing. Cynder thought that she could finally have Spyro to herself, and Spyro thought that he would finally have some time without Ember annoying him. Every dragon in the Temples main entrance thought that they were getting what they wanted.

Spyro waited until Ember and Flame were out of view before continuing on his journey with Cynder to the training room. _Thank the ancestors that those two are together._

Cynder was thinking the same thing, but neither spoke a word to the other as they continued. But Spyro thought that it was a little too easy for him to get Ember to leave him alone.


	2. Training

**Chapter 2:** **Training**

Cynder and Spyro reached the training room several minutes after seeing Flame and Ember leave the temple. Both dragons continued in silence, avoiding each other's gaze as they walked side by side. Cynder was aching on the inside to tell Spyro how she felt, but little did she know that Spyro was too thinking the exact same thing. They both liked each other, yet neither of them knew it.

Cynder was thinking of a way that would force Spyro to make a decision on whether he liked her or not. But everything came down to the reason that he might not forgive her. So, the black dragoness huffed silently, dealing with her boredom with dreams of her and Spyro being together. Flying in circles around each other, running through the dense forests that surrounded the Dragon Temple and sleeping beside each other in their own room. But Cynder's imagination could only stretch so far, as the Spyro in her dreams never said a word, much like the one in real life. Although this would seem like an upset, Cynder liked, in a way, having Spyro silent beside her, it gave her time to enjoy their brief time together.

"Just down the end of this hallway is the training room." Spyro said suddenly. Cynder perked her head up looking down the seemingly endless corridor.

_He spoke to me!_ Cynder became almost ecstatic with the opportunity to have another conversation with Spyro. _What should I say? _Cynder quickly glanced over at Spyro, who was still staring straight down the corridor. _Say something before it's too late!_ Cynder looked straight ahead. "Why did they make this place so big?" _Damn_.

"Before Malefor was… Awakened… this place was filled with dragons from all over the land. Or, that is what Ignitus told me…" Spyro took a deep sigh.

"You miss him, don't you?" Cynder looked at Spyro who was actually staring back at her. "I shouldn't be here. Ignitus gave his life so that you could free me."

Spyro's eyes widened. "Don't talk like that! It's my fault for not paying enough attention."

Cynder stepped before Spyro, forcing the purple dragon to a stop. She took a deep breath and store straight into his deep violet eyes. "Spyro… Don't blame yourself for this. He gave his life for us to escape, and because of Ignitus's sacrifice, the Dark Master was defeated."

Spyro didn't know what to do. Cynder managed to become so serious, yet honest all at the same time. And all he could do from her statement was agree. Spyro nodded slightly, and Cynder returned to his side once more. The two continued on down the corridor, soon reaching the training room.

Cynder immediately sat down, just on the inside of the room, leaving Spyro to continue on alone. Until he turned to look at Cynder, noticing that she wasn't at his side anymore.

"Why did you stop? I thought you wanted to come here…" Spyro glanced around the training room again, noticing that the entire room had changed completely since he had last been inside it. Many months ago was his last training session, and that was done by Ignitus, teaching Spyro last resort moves using most of his flame power.

"I did… But it's more fun if you have a training partner." Cynder stood from her position and headed towards Spyro, who hesitantly backed away slowly as the black dragoness inched closer to him. "What's wrong Spyro, afraid that I'll beat you?"

The purple dragon had never actually been beaten in a one on one training session. Only when two or even three of the guardians teamed up were they able to beat the young purple dragon. But Spyro knew that he could beat Cynder easily. Only when she was in her possessed form did she stand any form of a challenge, but Spyro never wanted to think about Cynder like that again. Spyro had also never backed down from a challenge, and this time was to be no different.

"Ok, you're on." Spyro lowered his head and spread his front paws slightly, readying for an attack. "Say when."

Cynder stepped closer to Spyro, slowly making her way around to his tail. Spyro steadied his position, preparing for Cynder to make a strike towards him. The black dragoness continued around Spyro until she was directly behind him. Cynder leapt into the air, just above Spyro. "Ok, now!" Cynder started to fall onto Spyro's position but only when she got within inches of the purple dragon did he move.

Cynder landed on the ground and quickly whirled around, trying to find Spyro. But the only image she could make out was a small purple blur. Cynder stuck out her tail, making sure that the bladed edge wouldn't slice right through the purple dragon. But Spyro easily dodged around Cynder's tail, continuing on his circle around the black dragoness. Yes, he was toying with her, but Spyro didn't want to really harm the one he secretly loved.

Cynder pulled her tail back within the purple tornado. Pondering her next plan of attack against Spyro, Cynder unfurled her wings, trying to gain speed herself using Spyro's power. The black dragoness instantly shot straight up into the air, falling back down as a crumpled mess of limbs and wings. By his act only, Cynder landed directly on top of Spyro, putting them both face to face against each other, Cynder on Spyro.

The black dragoness instantly put all of her power through her forelegs, pinning Spyro against the ground, leaving him with no option but to submit, unless he wanted to harm Cynder in their duel. Spyro struggled against Cynder's efforts to keep him pinned, but to no avail. All Spyro could do was lay there, stuck to the ground. He felt Cynder's hind legs find his own, and immediately pinned them against the ground too, placing their bodies against each other, everything of Spyro's was either pinned against the ground by Cynder opposite limb, or held in an awkward position between the two dragons.

"Looks like I win this time." Cynder continued to hold Spyro against the ground. She had no intention of letting him go, as the closeness was something that she had dreamt of, but was never able to achieve.

Spyro tried once more to release himself from against the ground, but his futile effort proved useless against Cynder. "I was only going easy on you Cynder."

The black dragoness continued the pressure against Spyro's body. "Sure you were Spyro. I'll believe you." Cynder ran the tip of her tail against Spyro's ribs, she was going to enjoy having Spyro in such a vulnerable position wile it lasted. "But for now, I won…"

Spyro loved the feeling of Cynder rubbing down his side. Almost a little too much for his own good. Spyro felt a strong pressure build near the base of his tail. Having his body so close to Cynder's made it hard enough for the purple dragon to control himself, but her continued touch drove him over the edge. Spyro knew that he was in trouble at that moment, yet Cynder continued on with only the intention of annoyance on her mindset.

Spyro's eyes widened on the thoughts that Cynder might have if she found out that he actually enjoyed being that close to her, but it was only a matter of time until she would feel his member press against her body. The purple dragon knew that he had to act quickly to avoid being caught.

Cynder looked away from Spyro's side and glanced towards his head, finding his eye's unusually wider than usual. She loved the colour of his eyes, such a deep purple that was so kind, yet deadly at the same time. Cynder lost herself for a moment, just staring at the purple dragon, until she felt something press against the side of her leg.

The black dragoness thought nothing of it, thinking that it was only Spyro's tail trying to find a way to get her off, so she continued her assault against his side, making the moment as uncomfortable as possible for Spyro, until the pressure continued to build against the side of her leg.

"Spyro, you're not going to get me off, so you can stop trying to push me off with your tail."

Spyro thought about a way to get Cynder to leave him alone, but the only way he could think of was to hurt her. "I'm sorry Cynder…"

Cynder looked at Spyro strangely. _Why would he be apologising? He hasn't done any-_ Cynder felt an unnatural heat grow from underneath her paws, at first it was just annoying, but within a few seconds the heat became unbearable. Cynder let out a slight yelp at the increasing temperatures, but leapt from her position away from Spyro, only to watch him scamper off through the entryway, saying nothing on his way out.

The black dragoness tried to take off after Spyro, only to recoil from her burnt paws aching with contact against the cold floor. "Spyro? Where are you going?" Cynder took a deep sigh, and eventually she sat on her haunches and licked her burnt paws, cringing even as her tongue made contact with the injured scales.

The purple dragon moved faster than even he thought possible. His claws skidded against the hard marble flooring, leaving him to crash into the wall on more than one account. But as long as no-one saw him in his moment of shame, Spyro was happy.

Spyro continued to run towards his room, eventually reaching seclusion without anyone finding him. Although there was nothing he wanted more than Cynder, he was still unsure of her thoughts about him. It was a hard thing to think about. _Maybe she did it on purpose…_

Cynder gingerly got to her feet, and tried walking out of the training room, only to collapse after her third step. _Maybe he doesn't love me… Why else would he do this._ Cynder lay on the ground keeping the underside of her paws from contact. _This is hopeless._ Cynder unfurled her wings once more, and slowly lifted herself off the ground. The amount of strain it put on her wings was great, but the pain was much less than what she would be put through if she were to walk. Cynder had no clue on where Spyro had gone to, but she wanted to get off her feet, so the black dragoness headed to her room.

Spyro lay on his bed, waiting for his member to go back inside of his body. _Did she see it?_ The purple dragon had been trying to calm himself over the whole ordeal ever since entering the safeness of his room, yet as much as he wanted to hide the truth from Cynder, he wished that there was another way. _I have to know if she's ok._ The purple dragon slowly made it to his feet, checking to make sure that he was covered again, and then made his way outside to try and find Cynder.

"I should've known better… Of course he doesn't like me… Why else would he force me to do this?" Cynder was slowly making her way up the stairs heading towards her room. All she wanted was a place to sit down and rest her straining wings.

Cynder continued on despite the pain it caused her, knowing that if she was to make any contact with the ground it would either be more painful, or less than graceful than her reputation would allow. The black dragoness found herself struggling up the final set of stairs that led to the living quarters, only to be confronted by Spyro.

The purple dragon knew that Cynder was in pain at that moment, because he could see her eyes filled with pain and unsteady wing beats. "Cynder, I'm sorry… Bu-"

The black dragoness ignored Spyro and continued on her way, flying around the purple dragon, Cynder headed down the corridor.

"I know that I shouldn't have done what I did. And I'm sorry… But I-"

Cynder now had tears in her eyes, and despite the pain it caused her, she landed on the ground and turned around to face Spyro. The pain in her feet adding to her already swelled eyes. "You what Spyro? Why did you have to do that? Never once did I attempt to hurt you!"

"Cynder, it's not that… I-"

"You what Spyro? You didn't want me to be that close to you? Didn't want anyone to know that I was laying on-top of you?"

"No, I liked-"

"Just forget it Spyro… Forget that anything happened today." The black dragoness turned away and started limping down the corridor.

_I can't leave her like this…_ Spyro quickly jumped to Cynder's side, causing her to stop and look back at him. "Let me help you…"

Cynder knew that there was only one option to Spyro's offer. She would accept his help no matter what had happened, just to be closer to him for the extra moment or so that she could. Cynder didn't know how Spyro could help her, but would accept anything that he offered.

Spyro assumed from Cynder's silence, and lack of movement that he was to help her. The purple dragon moved closer to the black dragoness trying to think of the best way to carry her.

"Your going to have to lie on me again…" Spyro sunk low to the ground so that Cynder could step over him.

The black dragoness slowly lifted herself above Spyro with her wings, and slowly started to sink into a comfortable position on the purple dragon's back.

Once Spyro felt that he was holding her full weight, he slowly started on his way down to Cynder's room. The black dragoness held tightly against his sides, which he almost expected as if to steady herself, but there was something about how she was holding him that made the purple dragon feel uncomfortable. Cynder had placed both of her forelegs on each shoulder, but it wasn't along the top where she held him, but slightly on the side as if trying to feel each of his muscles work as he carried them both down the hallway. Her hind legs, however, were placed firmly on Spyro's back, keeping herself as far away as possible from him. But for what reason, he didn't know.

Cynder enjoyed the closeness to the purple dragon, much like how she did when they had finished their little play fight. But soon enough, Spyro reached the entrance to Cynder's room, and knelt low to the ground, allowing Cynder to slide off his back and disappear inside her room without saying a word.

Spyro turned away and headed back to his room, wanting nothing more than to rest after his first, in what he would love to be, many days alongside Cynder. Although he still didn't know how she felt about him, he could feel that there was something between them that only had more to go.


	3. Jumbled Words

**Chapter 3:** **Jumbled Words**

Cynder awoke the next morning to feel the sun beating down on her half-closed eyelids. The black dragoness yawned expansively, before resting her head once more on her soft bedding. Cynder couldn't stop thinking about Spyro, once more her dreams were filled with them both being close together.

* * *

Both of their heads darted from one side to another, flying around in the sky as if searching for something. But when Spyro pointed towards a mountain with a cave opening on one side, Cynder followed the purple dragon to the ground and into the un-expectantly large cave. Cynder glanced around, admiring Spyro's spotting techniques as it was almost concealed completely from the outside with undergrowth. Cynder looked at Spyro as he slowly neared closer to her.

"Are you sure about this Cynder?" The purple dragon stopped several feet from Cynder, just within reach if they both extended their necks to each other.

The black dragoness glanced around the cave once more, finding that it satisfied every one of her guidelines. "I love it here… But there's only one thing missing Spyro."

The purple dragon recoiled slightly at Cynder's comment, but Spyro kept his eyes on Cynder, knowing that there was something more to it than just a simple answer. "Cynder, we've been together for a while now. Everyone thinks that we've already mated just because we spend all of our time out here alone."

"That doesn't matter to me… But now we have somewhere to stay away from it all. Now there is only one thing I desire. And that is a family…"

* * *

Cynder opened her eyes once more. Her dreams felt so real, but she knew that it would be too good to be true. _Spyro doesn't love me… He would've said so by now if he did._ Cynder closed her eyes for a long moment, wanting nothing more than to believe that it wasn't true. Cynder slowly opened her eyes again, finding a dragon-shaped shadow in her view, blocking the sun from her eyes.

The shadowed form continued to hover before the black dragoness, inching closer to the curtained window. "Cynder? Are you awake?" It was Spyro.

Cynder quickly jumped to her feet. _What is he doing here now?_ The black dragoness took tried to take a step forward, feeling the hard floor against her still injured paws. The stone caused her the same pain as yesterday, but when on her bed no pain came through. "Y-yes I'm awake… What are you doing Spyro?"

Spyro continued to hold his position outside Cynder's window. "Is it ok if I come in?"

Cynder quickly glanced around her room, it was clean, but not as clean as she would've liked if Spyro was to come in. Cynder braced herself, and started walking towards the window. Each step felt like she was walking on arrow heads, but Cynder held her face strong, not allowing anything as much as a grimace into her expression. When Cynder reached the window, she poked her head through the curtain, finding Spyro almost immediately on the other side. Both of their faces were within inches of each other before Spyro backed away from the window, giving them a few feet of space.

"You could've told me that you were coming out." The purple dragon steadied his position once more after the sudden shift of his weight.

"Sorry Spyro… Why did you want to see me this early?"

"I'm not sure whether or not you accepted my apology yesterday. So, I thought that I could make it up to you today." That was just another thing that Cynder loved about Spyro. He always followed through with anything that he was unsure of. But Cynder was just going to use it as an excuse to be close to him for another day.

Cynder stared passionately at Spyro, eventually unnerving the young dragon into speaking again. "Are you going to come with me? Or do you want me to carry you again?" He said gesturing out into the wilderness with his head.

"Oh, yes… Sorry Spyro… I'll be right out." Cynder ducked her head back underneath the curtain, watching as Spyro's shadow disappeared off towards where his room was situated.

Cynder quickly darted around her room, cleaning up the rest of her possessions and putting them in their designated space. The pain she once felt was gone completely, it was as if her paws had never been hurt at all. Cynder continued to clean up her room until she saw another shadow appear outside her window. But to Cynder it seemed a little smaller than last time.

"Spyro, I'll be out in a minute, I'm coming…"

"I'm afraid that you aren't going to spend the day with Spyro." Cynder was facing one of the walls upon hearing the strange voice. "Spyro will be mine. I mean, how could he even think about caring for you? You destroyed cities, killed hundreds, even served the dark master… If you ask me, I wouldn't be surprised if he just feels sorry for you enough to even to talk to such a pathetic excuse of a dragon!"

Cynder turned to face the window, anger rising to almost a new level. Only the smallest voice in her mind managed to keep her in position. "Get lost Ember! You don't know anything about me or Spyro! I love him more than you ever could!"

"Oh really? Have you told him yet?" Ember continued to hold her position outside Cynder's window. There was a long silence between the two. "That's what I thought. You're too scared to tell him, you're afraid that he'll say that he loves me, which he does, by the way…"

This pushed Cynder over the edge, she wanted nothing more than to tear Ember's wings off and watch her fall to the ground. Cynder leapt through the window tearing the curtain with her. A fierce growl escaped her throat as Cynder dove straight at the almost unsuspecting Ember, colliding as a giant ball of black and pink. Both dragonesses clawed at each other, creating cuts and gashes that almost immediately started to release blood.

Neither dragoness felt the pain from the cuts, they both were too intent on killing each other rather than caring about their own wellbeing. Roars rang throughout the entire outside of the Dragon Temple, sending the many birds in nearby trees away from the area regardless of what they were doing. But both Cynder and Ember continued to attack each other.

Cynder turned to the other side of Ember, being able to see the dragon temple on the other side of Ember, but along with the temple, there was Spyro. Cynder continued to dodge, and give attacks to Ember, but knew that only one way would end it with the result she wanted. Fighting Ember was easy, the pink dragoness was much slower than Cynder. Many times she could've ended the pink dragonesses' life and tried to take her place by Spyro's side, knowing that he would grieve the loss of Ember and never forgive her. She had only one option, and it was going to hurt, a lot.

Cynder ducked under Ember's swinging paw, knowing quite well that another one was coming the other way straight at her. Cynder clenched her jaw, preparing for Ember's strike to slash against the side of her face. And soon enough, it came.

The pain it caused the black dragoness was tremendous. Although Ember was much slower, she still held a high amount of strength within her.

"Cynder!" The black dragoness heard Spyro yell. He had seen the strike Ember gave and feared for Cynder's life almost immediately.

As the black dragoness fell lifelessly out of the sky, she could feel that she was gaining altitude at an alarming rate, and she would hit the ground soon if she didn't do anything. Cynder glanced back towards Spyro, seeing him speeding to her aid. Her plan had worked perfectly, but there was still one part that she dreaded. The landing.

Cynder braced herself once more, knowing that she wasn't going to feel good afterwards. She took one last glance at the fast approaching ground, and took a deep breath. The black dragoness prepared for the impact, only to feel a strong grasp on her hind legs. Cynder took a quick glance up at her rescuer, seeing a flash of purple as the morning sun reflected of the dragon's scales. "Spyro…" She knew that there was much explaining to do, but for now, all she had to do was recover.

Spyro turned around in a wide ark, heading back towards the dragon temple. Ember was flying towards him, but Spyro only growled at the pink dragoness as he passed her. Ember took a shocked expression, and continued on her way, planning on avoiding Spyro for a while. _The moment he leaves that… Thing… Alone, he's mine._

Spyro flew towards his room, picking up the rest of Cynder's limp form so that they would fit through the window. Spyro flew straight through his curtain and placed Cynder on his bed laying the limp dragoness on her back. Cynder groaned slightly in pain, she felt fine apart from a headache caused by Ember's blow to her head, which helped her act injured, as she actually was. After all, this was just a plan to get closer to Spyro.

"Stay still Cynder. I'll be right back. Just don't move." Spyro darted out of his room, leaving Cynder alone.

The black dragoness couldn't believe what was happening. She was in Spyro's room. Not even she expected that much, but she knew that the purple dragon would be back soon so Cynder just stayed her position, trying to gain a single thought in her jumbled mind. The blow from Ember was enough to send her into a spin, but the strong scent of Spyro sent her over the edge. The way Spyro had put her down left her in a position with her head at the end of his bed, with her head resting on the bunched covers. Her nose was in ecstasy, each breath was filled with Spyro, but luckily enough for Cynder her head was in too many places to tie everything together.

Several minutes of loneliness passed and Spyro burst into the room once more, carrying various rags and bandages. "Just hold still Cynder, this is going to hurt a little…" Spyro reached over and picked up a bandage. "Ember got a few good cuts on your stomach and sides. There are also a few more across your tail, but your shackle managed to block many more." Spyro examined the locked steel noticing many scratches and dents on it, yet the lock still held strong around Cynder's tail.

Spyro placed one end of the bandage on Cynder's stomach, and proceeded in lifting her up and wrapping the entirety of it around her midsection. It was a bit of work, but after several minutes Spyro had used up the entire first bandage and clipped the two ends together.

Spyro looked over Cynder's form once more, she lay lifeless before him. Cynder was still conscious, but pain wracked through her body as the adrenaline of fighting removed itself from her system. Spyro stood still. Cynder's beauty had him frozen, he had noticed everything about her before, but only now did his thoughts turn to emotions and dreams.

Spyro had always liked Cynder, and over the past few weeks he had become attached to her despite their distance. Spyro had almost missed seeing Cynder during the two weeks after the battle against Malefor, but seeing the one he secretly loved in such a sorry state caused him to change accordingly. He was sad because she was. Spyro walked around Cynder, passing over her tail as he stepped onto his bed. The purple dragon looked over his handiwork deciding that it was done well enough to hold only the minimalist of movements. But if it were up to him, Cynder wouldn't be going anywhere, anytime soon…

Spyro stopped his movement for a moment, glancing down the rest of Cynder's uncovered form. He knew that it was wrong, but the young dragon couldn't help himself. Spyro had been taught about mating by Ignitus on one of his rest days. It was something that he considered important as by the dragon's lack of numbers. And everything from that one day suddenly became clear in his mind. Spyro was staring at the base of Cynder's tail, her scales were hidden from the sun leaving them dulled, but as he followed the outlines of Cynder's scales Spyro caught a glimpse of her most vital organ. Spyro slowly continued his movement around Cynder, unable to remove his gaze. As the sun streamed passed Spyro the black dragoness glistened more than what he had normally seen, he was in a trance within his own mind, until he felt Cynder's tail brush up against his underbelly.

"Spyro…" Cynder whispered out. The purple dragon quickly made it to her side, placing his head within view of the black dragoness, allowing her to see him clearly.

"What is it Cynder?"

The black dragoness blinked once, taking her time in trying to find the right way to word her response. She was unaware that Spyro had been staring at her womanhood only moments ago. "I'm sorry for all of this, I should've ignored Ember."

Spyro jerked his head away from beside Cynder's, only to slowly put it back down on the end of his bed. "It's ok Cynder. I know that she's only jealous that I'm spending all of my time with you." Spyro took a deep breath, trying to find the right way to word his response properly. "But I love having time beside you Cynder. It's like I can really be myself around you. It's like you don't care about what the legends and scriptures say, you treat me like a normal dragon."

Cynder missed most of Spyro's words, the effects of Ember's attack taking its effect on the young dragonesses mind. So all she heard were a group of jumbled words. 'I love… You Cynder. I… Care about… You…'

"I love you too Spyro…"

"What?"


	4. No Way

**Chapter 4:** **No Way**

The purple dragon recoiled is head from Cynder. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Cynder said that she loved him, but something didn't seem right to Spyro. It was exactly what the purple dragon wanted to hear from Cynder, it had been for the past fortnight, but Spyro knew that the black dragoness before him wasn't in her right mind. "Cynder, you need some rest. I think that knock to the head is affecting you a little too much," Spyro pulled himself away from Cynder's form, leaving her alone on his bed. "You just wait here, I'll get us some breakfast."

Cynder tried to lift her head up from Spyro's bed. She did mean to say that she loved him. Every last word of it. But what made her unsure was Spyro's reaction to it. She heard the purple dragon admit to loving her, so why wouldn't he want her to say the same back? Cynder was lost within her own mind. Amongst the throbbing pain in her head, delightful scent of Spyro's bed and the constant arguing with her mind on whether or not it was the right thing to say. Cynder was mentally frozen. She heard that Spyro was leaving for a moment, but when he would be back was unknown to the black dragoness. Cynder watched Spyro leave the room, leaving her to cope with the constant bliss and agony by herself.

Cynder closed her eyes just after Spyro had left her view. Cynder ran their last conversation through her mind, wondering if she missed anything when Spyro had admitted to loving her. But Cynder could gather nothing more than what she had already heard. _I love… You Cynder… I… care about… You…_ That was all she heard.

The black dragoness lifted her head up from Spyro's bed, his scent still strong in the air around her, wanting to talk to the purple dragon at the exact moment he arrived. She knew that he loved her, but the reaction to her admitting love to him too but received a less than welcoming response.

Many minutes passed, and Cynder held her head in the same levitate position, regardless of what her straining muscles said to her. But soon enough, the purple dragon returned carrying two separate bowls filled with what she could only assume was soup.

Cynder immediately dropped her head as Spyro entered the room, allowing her entire body to rest once more. She would wait until she had eaten before talking to Spyro about her love. She was feeling fine apart from the constant throbbing headache, but Spyro was none the wiser.

"Cynder, can you roll onto your stomach to eat?" Spyro had placed both bowls onto the ground, watching as the black dragoness prodded her underbelly slightly with her arms, recoiling and wedging her eyes shut after every touch.

"No…" was her only answer.

"Then let me help you." Spyro picked up one of the bowls in his foreleg and slowly made his way to Cynder. The purple dragon approached Cynder slowly and placed the edge of the bowl against her bottom jaw. "Careful, it's hot."

Cynder nodded slightly and opened her maw ajar, allowing for Spyro to slowly pour the warm liquid down her throat. It felt good to Cynder, for she hadn't eaten before bed yesterday night. And before she knew it the entire bowlful was empty.

Spyro pulled the empty bowl away from Cynder's face and placed it gently on the ground beside his bed, reaching for the second one. "I guess that you need this more than I do."

Cynder shook her head. "You have to eat something Spyro. I don't want anymore."

The purple dragon looked at Cynder for a moment, frozen with the bowl of soup in his paws. "Ok Cynder, but if you want some more just ask." Spyro then placed the bowl on the ground at the side of his bed and began to lap up the liquid.

Cynder stared at Spyro the entire time, which slightly un-nerved the purple dragon, but it didn't stop him from eating. Cynder waited until Spyro was finished until perusing him with her first mention of love.

During the entire time of Spyro eating, Cynder thought about whether or not she should continue with her original plan of revealing her true feelings for Spyro, or continuing to live the lie that was. They had spent their first day together less than ten hours ago, yet Cynder felt that she knew it was the right thing to do. Either that, or risk Ember taking Spyro from her despite her feigned attraction towards Flame. The black dragoness had figured out that it was just a plan that didn't work out. Which only wanted to make her drive to Spyro sooner. Which is what she decided on doing today.

Spyro had finished his meal and stacked both bowls near the entryway, out of reach from the bed. Cynder continued to lay lifelessly on Spyro's bed, apart from her eyes darting from side to side, looking intently at whatever caught her attention. But for the most part, Spyro was the source of attention.

Spyro walked around Cynder once more, this time purposefully averting his gaze from Cynder's body until he was at her side. As Spyro knelt down on his bed beside Cynder, he felt her rub the edge of her bladed tail along his. It was a good feeling, one that he wouldn't allow to get the better of him, but Cynder was partially incapacitated, so he ran almost no risk if the worst was to happen, all he had to do was remain calm.

But then the thought came to him. He glanced down at Cynder who eyed him with a newfound interest. _What if what she said is true… What if she does love me?_ Spyro looked up and down the entire form of Cynder once more. "Cynder?"

The black dragoness shuffled her neck around slightly, allowing herself a better look of the purple dragon. "Yes Spyro?"

"About what you said earlier…" Spyro looked straight into Cynder's eyes, he knew that there was only one way to ask it. "Do you really mean it?"

Cynder answered almost immediately. "Of course I do Spyro! Why else would I say it? I love you, I always have since the day you released me from my torment."

Spyro was stunned. It was almost as if he could feel her love just by being in the same area as her. It was everything that he had always wanted, and all it took were three small words. "I love you too Cynder." He paused for a moment. His feelings were exactly the same. The moment that he freed her from darkness was the one moment he fell in love.

The two dragons lay beside each other. Everything they dreamt about, every feeling that they had been hiding from each other, every minute of wasted time together, all seemed to be worth it. All in that moment.

Both Spyro and Cynder stared into each other's eyes. It was almost all they could do. Cynder was stuck in her position, blinded with pain from almost any movement, but she continued to rub her tail up and down the entire length of Spyro's, which made the purple dragon uneasy by his renewed attraction to the dragoness laying before him.

Spyro looked back to where Cynder wat stroking his tail, only to find that Cynder had stopped completely. "Why did you stop?" Spyro looked back into Cynder's eyes. He enjoyed the contact between them, but now he didn't care if he did enjoy it. Cynder loved him.

Cynder started stroking her tail up against his again. "Sorry Spyro… I just can't believe this… All of this." Cynder reached down with one of her paws, trying to grab one of Spyro's. "You and me."

Spyro lifted up his right foreleg, grasping onto Cynder's instantly. The touch of her arm wrapping around his only heightened the feelings towards the black dragoness. Cynder craned her neck further to get a better view of her love. She had done it, her one dream of being in love with Spyro had finally come true.

Cynder continued to stare into Spyro's amethyst eyes as he slowly inched closer to her side, eventually lying completely against her. There was nothing between the two of them as Spyro rest his head down next to Cynder's, keeping their eyes glued to each other.

The two dragons continued to stare at each other until there was a light knock on the door, just able to be heard over the two dragons's deepened breathing. "Hey, Spyro! You in there?" It was Sparx.

Spyro instantly pulled away from Cynder, but she understood exactly why he did. Sparx had been against Cynder's cause much like most of the other dragons. He believed that she was still evil, still under control by Malefor, trying to gain the trust of the guardians only to strike when they least expected it.

"Yes Sparx, I'm here…" Spyro moved away from Cynder, much to both of their dismay, but they had only just become together, and Sparx was one of the last people that Spyro or Cynder wanted to know. "What is it?"

"I saw you running from the hall with two bowls and wondered what the hell you were up to. I called your name twice but you didn't hear me." There was a slight pause as Spyro tried to think about an excuse that he could use. Until Sparx spoke again. "You sick or something?"

Spyro thought about the idea, and in the end it sounded like a fair excuse. He took a quick glance at Cynder who didn't care what he said, as long as Sparx would leave them alone. But he couldn't lie to his brother, even if it was just to give him some time alone with Cynder. Then Spyro thought. "No, I'm fine Sparx… But could you come in here for a second I need your help with something."

Cynder, despite the fact that she couldn't move, wanted nothing more than to leave the room. She almost despised Sparx because of his clear distrust of her. But if she was to stay as Spyro's love, there was no way around it. But Cynder wanted to wait at least a few weeks being with Spyro until she had to tell him. But if she stayed calm, nothing would go wrong.

Spyro opened the door for his much smaller brother, only for him to fly directly back out upon the sight of Cynder. "What is that she-devil doing here? Spyro! Quick, run for your life!"

"Sparx! Calm down!" Spyro knew that Cynder would take some effect to Sparx's almost thoughtless words, but for now, he wanted them both to at least try and get along. "Cynder's been injured in a fight against Ember, and I need you to heal her."

Sparx quickly flew back inside the room, landing on the very back of Spyro's head. Keeping as much of the purple dragon as possible between him and Cynder. "No way am I going to heal that murderer! Have you forgotten already the amount of pain and suffering she brought upon us?" Sparx was making Spyro's job much harder than it needed to be. His first comment was enough to make Cynder sad, but the little dragonfly's continuous insults almost pushed Cynder to tears. But luckily for her, Cynder's face was hidden behind her entire form.

"Sparx that's enough! What do you want me to do just to get you to heal her?"

Sparx slowly crawled up to a higher point of Spyro's head, bracing himself between the purple dragon's horns. "Is she asleep?"

"I told her to rest because of her injuries, as far as I know she is asleep now."

Spyro slowly took a few steps forward, inching towards Cynder's still form. "Alright, fine… I'll do it. But you have to hold her arms. I'm not going to put myself in harms way just for you…"

"Good. Because some of her injuries are a little serious."

Spyro cut along the entire side of the bandage, revealing the many deep wounds and gashes that lined her stomach and sides. "Wow, looks like Ember really did a number on her."

"Shut up Sparx. Just fix her up." Spyro pressed himself against Cynder's side, giving him the most leverage over Cynder's limbs if she was to spring awake as Sparx assumed she would. Cynder felt Spyro against her side and smiled slightly as she felt the warmth of his body against hers.

Sparx started at one side of Cynder's body and slowly worked his way to the final cut. The entire job took a little longer than ten minutes. "Man, that'll really take the energy out of ya… And you said that Ember did this."

Spyro nodded his head slightly. Watching as Sparx turned his back on Cynder to look at Spyro. "For some reason I find that hard to believe, but it's your story. How did this happen anyway?"

Cynder groaned slightly as Spyro had moved away from against her side, which caused Sparx to shoot towards the other side of the room. "She's waking up! Spyro, do something!"

"Do what Sparx? You healed her, for all you know Cynder might say thank you."

"No way, I'm not going to believe you… Because as long as that devil-dragon and you are in the same room, I'm going the other way!"

Cynder got up to her feet, but sat down on Spyro's bed. Feeling her body like it was new. There were a few places that were cramped, but they were all along where her wounds were.

"Sparx, calm down. Cynder isn't going to hurt you."

"No way man, I'm not going anywhere near that… That thing!" Sparx whizzed out of Spyro's room, saying nothing more as he left the two dragons alone together. Oblivious to their newly formed relationship.

"Cynder, I'm sorry for what he said about you. Sparx has always had a hard time adjusting to new things."

Cynder pressed herself up against Spyro's side, enjoying the fact that she could now move freely around the one she loved. "It's ok Spyro. I don't care about what Sparx thinks. As long as I am by your side, I will always be happy."

Cynder gave Spyro a warm smile as she lay her head on the purple dragon's shoulder. Wrapping one of her arms around the inside of his. "I love you Cynder."

"I love you Spyro."


	5. Place of Escape

**Chapter 5:** **Place of Escape**

The two dragons sat in the morning sunlight pressed against each other, Spyro could tell how much he meant to her even though they had only been together for just over fifteen minutes. It was the way Cynder held herself against him, how she continued to rub her tail against his, trying to find a way around it, as if wanting to tie herself to him. The way she rested almost her entire body weight against him, Spyro could feel that he was the one thing that stopped Cynder from falling over in that one moment.

Spyro made it to his feet, and Cynder slowly detached herself from the purple dragon, wanting nothing more than to stay glued to his side for the rest of their time. But both Cynder and Spyro knew that it would be hard to tell the rest of the dragons of their relationship. For not only was Cynder still ridiculed by the other dragons of being the dark master's slave, but almost every other dragon in the temple fought to become Spyro's love. And the dragonesses never knew when to quit, until Spyro himself made it clear that he wasn't interested in any that tried to gain his attention. Either by ignoring them completely for days on end, or just making a spectacular speech embarrassing whichever dragoness it was directed to. Eventually Spyro became just like every other dragon in the temple, everyone knew that he would make a choice, but in all their minds, he just wasn't ready yet. That was not true.

The purple dragon had his mind set on Cynder during the final battle against Malefor. It was seeing his love pass out that gave him the strength he required to unleash his final assault on the psychotic dragon.

Cynder eyed Spyro passionately for a moment. She was over her head at that moment. She had fallen in love with the purple dragon ever since her release. And now he was finally her love. "Spyro, what is going to happen to us now?" The black dragoness took a step away from Spyro, unaware that she was standing on his bed once more.

"I- I don't know Cynder. I don't know how the guardians will think of this. But they don't have to know anytime soon." Spyro watched Cynder sit down on his bed, deep in thought at the time. "But I don't want to think about that. Despite what happened this morning, I still want to make up for what I did yesterday." Spyro made his way to the window, ignoring the torn curtain that lay on the floor underneath his paws. "But now I don't have to worry about your reaction."

Cynder tilted her head to the side upon hearing Spyro's statement. "You were going to say that you lo-"

Spyro turned to face Cynder, knowing quite well what she was going to say. "I was… But then you fought against Ember and I had no choice. I was going to tell you but I wanted it to be perfect." The purple dragon turned back to the window, facing the outside world. "But if you want to stay inside the temple I understand. There is one thing that I have to fix up anyway."

"No… Please. I want to know what you had planned for today."

Spyro flashed a small grin. "Great. Follow me…" Spyro launched himself out the window, wanting nothing more than to show Cynder what he originally had planned for the dragoness who almost immediately shot out the window, following Spyro out into the wilderness away from the dragon temple.

Cynder followed Spyro for several minutes as he casually flew over the dense forests of Avalar. The black dragoness moved to beside Spyro so that she could speak. "Where are we going?"

"I can't tell you Cynder." Spyro spotted their destination in the distance. It was a mountain amongst the edge of the forest. Spyro lazily let his forelegs go limp. Feeling his casual changes in direction made him seemingly point down to whichever location was in their path. Spyro also let his head hang against his chest, wanting nothing more than to disturb Cynder as to their actual direction.

Cynder instantly found herself glancing down to whatever direction Spyro's paws were facing. Then it hit her. _I've seen this before. It… Can't be…_

Spyro lifted his head from his chest, staring towards the side of the mountain which housed a large cave that he had been working on during the early days of the war against Malefor.

The two dragons swooped down towards the cave, saying nothing to each other in the process. Cynder slowed as the entrance to the cave wouldn't allow for both dragons to enter at the same time. Giving Spyro enough room to pass through easily. The second Cynder landed inside the cave, she saw Spyro facing her, eyes widened to an almost unnatural state.

Cynder tried her best to ignore Spyro's stare at her, examining every inch of the unnaturally large cave. "Spyro, why did you bring me here?"

"I haven't been here for years. I started it during the war against Malefor to get away from the world. I carved out every inch of this cave." Spyro sat on his haunches, continuing to stare at the black dragoness before him. "You are the only other dragon that knows of this place. I used to come here when I needed some time to think," The purple dragon paused for a second. "Either that, or practise my earth element by removing bits of the rock."

Cynder could do nothing but stand in awe of what Spyro had dug into the mountainside. The entrance was nothing larger than Spyro was now, but on the inside there was enough room to easily hold a family of dragons safe from the world. "How long did it take you to make this?"

"I can't remember. But I'm thankful that I did. Because I've found myself inside here a lot recently, trying to escape from the constant speeches from dragonesses that want to be my mate." Spyro scoffed slightly at the thought. "But it's always seemed emptier ever since the end of the war. There has always been someone wanting my help or something needing assistance. But now that the wars over, I've had nothing to do. No part of my life takes up more than half the day. But that's why I come here. To escape from the world and enjoy the silence of peace."

"Why were you hiding in here when the people needed assistance?"

"Because I'm tired of being the saviour. I hate being the 'purple dragon of legend'. Everyone wants you to do everything for them. I admit, sometimes it's nice to be the 'one and only' for hundreds of years, but most of the time I just got sick of it. Bringing myself to tend to every single person's deeds constantly gave me no time for myself. That is why I came here. I could hear their calls, and I knew exactly what they wanted. But there were times when I thought that I was all there was. I was the only hope. Like I was alone in the world with no help coming. But then I found you."

Cynder got up from her seated position to approach Spyro. "W- why me?"

"Because there was something different about you Cynder. I knew from the moment I met you that something was different. Most of the time I never understood why I had that feeling. But now I do. You understand that I am different from the rest of the world, that I have my own feelings and opinions. It was like you knew that I didn't want any of this, and accepted me just as any other dragon in the world. That's one of the reasons that I fell in love with you." Spyro let his head hang limp, almost grazing his nose against the stone floor in the process. "And that is why I have brought you here. I wanted to share that piece of my life with you. And what this means to me. To some it might just be a hole in the side of a mountain. But to me, it's my escape from the world, where I am no better than any other being in Avalar." Spyro lifted himself up from the ground. "Where I can be with nothing but myself. But now that you're here, I feel as if it could be something more."

"Spyro, I never knew you felt that way."

"There is much about me that you do not know. But hopefully in the future, you will learn everything."

Spyro padded closer to Cynder who continued to scan around the cave. "Spyro…" The black dragoness stared out through the small hole that was the entrance. "This place is almost large enough to raise a family."

"That was my original plan. I spent so much time here that I planned for the future. I knew that the war wouldn't last forever. But eve if I was to fall, then another dragon would come across this place and call it home."

"Don't speak like that Spyro. You can never die, you're not supposed to until the change of generations." Cynder looked back down at the purple dragon who continued to eye her lovingly.

"And this isn't a change of generations Cynder? Look around you. WE are the next generation, but with only so few of us it will be a long time before the dragons reach their peak again." Spyro had reached Cynder's side, and he proceeded in rubbing his side against her, eventually turning his body around so their heads were together.

"There is only one way to do that Spyro…"

"It is too soon Cynder, surely you know that. We have just reached the age that we can mate and conceive, but I do not want a child yet. I need some time to enjoy the free life. To have nothing to do all day but enjoy life. That is what I have dreamt of since before I can remember."

Cynder sighed slightly, but the whole situation seemed strange to her. Spyro, the purple dragon of legend, has admitted to loving her. And continued to share pieces of his life with her, including a space large enough to bear children when the time comes. "Spyro, why are you telling me this? What is the real reason that you showed me this place?"

"Because I love you Cynder." Spyro answered back almost immediately.

Cynder almost couldn't believe her ears once more. _Is this a dream?_ She continued to ask herself.

Before Cynder could create a response, Spyro continued. "I would love nothing else than to have hatchlings and raise a family with you, but as much as I want to do that, I need some time to enjoy life. Some time to just sit back and watch the world go by." Spyro stepped before Cynder and continued his stare into her eyes.

_This cannot be happening…_ Cynder picked up one of her forelegs and placed it against Spyro's bottom jaw. He rubbed down into her paw, almost losing himself just from the contact. Only to quickly pull his head back staring at Cynder, putting on a serious face once more.

"Cynder, can you wait a time until I know that we're ready?"

"I know that it is too soon for us Spyro, I just can't believe that you would make something like this, on nothing but a hope that all will go well… But yes, I could wait forever if that is what you want."

"Forever is a bit much, but thank you anyway." Spyro took a small step closer towards Cynder, leaving their faces merely inches apart.

Both dragons stayed there for a moment, Spyro almost lost himself from the increased scent of Cynder being so close to him. But the purple dragon stayed in control of his actions. Cynder, on the other hand, could not.

Before Spyro could think of anything past Cynder, Spyro felt Cynder press her maw against Spyro's for a moment, only to recoil back several feet. Almost embarrassed by her action towards her new love.

Cynder immediately turned her head and hid it beneath one of her wings. "I'm sorry Spyro, I don't know what came over me… I couldn't control myself, I- I… Knew what was going to happen, but…" She continued to hide her face from Spyro, but he wondered why she was acting so strangely about it.

"Cynder…" He cooed gently, causing Cynder to slow her thoughts. "It is nothing to be worried about… In fact, I rather liked it." The black dragoness removed her head from hiding, to view Spyro with an almost begging look upon his face. "Why are you ashamed of something like that?"

"I don't know… I'm not used to this… This… Us, all of it! I can-"

"And you think that I am? Cynder, You know that I have had no time in my life to enjoy something that took less than a second. That one moment was more enjoyable than most of my life has ever been…" Spyro started on his way to move closer to Cynder once more. The black dragoness had moved into the only ray of light into the cave, which gave her an almost goddess like appearance. "I may not be ready to have a family, but that doesn't mean I want nothing to do with you until then."

Spyro moved into the single stream of light, placing both dragons within the light against each other. "I can't believe it…" Cynder said softly, so that not even she could hear it.

Again, there was only inches between the two dragons as they both stood in the bright mid-morning light, sending hundreds of light specks dancing around the cavern. But Spyro was focused on the dragoness before her. For this time, it was him that created the contact between them.

Spyro stepped closer to Cynder again, pressing his body against her, feeling the warmth from her body against his. Spyro sat on the ground beside Cynder as she did the same, leaving their maws pressed against each other. Spyro felt the deep feeling swell up inside of him again, he knew exactly what was coming, but he knew that if he stayed on the ground nothing could go wrong. Cynder continued to try and press herself against Spyro, wanting nothing more than to be connected to her love in almost every way. But as the two dragons continued to break apart and reconnect with the other's maw they were both lost within their own mind.

Cynder flicked her tongue out, brushing up against the outside of Spyro's lips a few times, but after her third brush against him she found that his tongue had joined hers between them.

Spyro pressed his maw into Cynder's with an almost renewed vigour, knowing that, if given the chance, she would mate him right then. But as Spyro felt Cynder push back against him and felt her tongue dance around his between their maws, he also felt the familiar pulsating feeling that his member had attained.

Regretfully, Spyro pulled his maw away from Cynder's. Knowing that despite his vow to wait until it felt right, he would've lost control of himself within a few short moments if they were to continue their passion.

"That was… Incredible…" Cynder mumbled out softly. "I love you Spyro."

"I love you too Cynder."


	6. Revenge in Mind

**Ch****Chapter 6:** **Revenge in Mind**

Both dragons stared into each others eyes, wanting nothing more than to enjoy the moment they held together. Spyro padded to beside Cynder, basking in the spotlight of sun that illuminated the cavern. "There is still much of the day before us Cynder…" Spyro started, placing his head atop Cynder's shoulder. "We should be heading back to the temple."

Cynder growled pleasingly to Spyro, the vibrations from her throat shifting her entire form in the process. "Can't we just stay here all day?"

"Although many will resent this between us Cynder, there are some that I must tell." Spyro regretfully pulled himself up from against Cynder's form, and motioned with his head for Cynder to leave first. "After you." Cynder unfurled her wings and left Spyro on the ground, shooting through the small entryway within moments of leaving the ground. Spyro was quick to fly behind Cynder and slow at her side.

"So who do you want to know about us?" Cynder asked worriedly. There were many dragons that lived within the temple, but only a few she would agree to telling.

"I don't want many to know about us… Yet… But at the moment only the Guardians should know of our choices. But even some of them I would rather not inform."

Cynder let out a subtle sigh at the thought of Cyril learning of their connection together. The ice guardian was infamous for his ability to reason beyond many other's mind capacity. But despite his open mind, Cynder only assumed that he would still hold some doubt as to her position among their ranks. The only Guardian that believed Cynder was completely harmless to them was Volteer. The electric dragon knew much about the dark master's power and understood that Cynder couldn't be changed back to her destructive way unless Malefor was brought back into the realm. The black dragoness looked over the dense landscape below her, wanting nothing more than to turn back with Spyro and spend more time alone in the hollowed out mountain that Spyro had created.

The dragon temple came into view after several minutes of silent flying, but Spyro held his steady pace beside Cynder, regularly glancing at her for only split seconds, but it was that brief moment that he wished laster a lifetime. As they drew closer, Spyro angled towards his window, spending little time out in the wilderness alone with Cynder.

Spyro continued his examination of the area surrounding the two dragons as they continued their flight towards the dragon temple. But something caught the purple dragon's eye. It was a slight sparkle in the corner of his right peripheral. Spyro quickly shot his head to that direction, finding nothing but the continued forests. Spyro let out a sigh, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him, so he focused back on the task at hand, travelling towards the dragon temple, while slowly inching closer to Cynder in the process.

There was another reflection that caught his eye, in the exact same position as before, but this time Spyro could make out a colour. It was pink. _Ember._

"Spyro?" Cynder turned her head to look at the purple dragon, wondering why he had continued to look off into the distance.

"Cynder, go back to the temple, I will talk to you later… Ember is over there and I don't want her to know about us..."

"What if I do?"

"Last time you two were near each other you ended up almost without a life, and if I wasn't there, then you would've died afterwards. I'm not going to run that risk again!" Spyro banked off towards what he assumed was Ember's position.

"Spyro wait! I need to talk to Ember too, and you'll be beside me the whole time so you have nothing to worry about."

Spyro growled inwardly at Cynder's comment, but he wasn't going to argue with her. "Ok, fine. But stay behind me. I don't want you to get hurt, and I don't think Sparx will want to come anywhere near you for a while, you gave him quite a scare last time."

Cynder chuckled lightly, realising that it was almost the first time in which she ever had in her entire life. But she knew that there were many more moments like that to come as long as Spyro remained at her side.

"Just stay behind me." Spyro flew towards Ember and landed a hundred feet from her position, quickly followed by Cynder who stuck to Spyro's tail as if she was enticed by it's every motion, which in turn, the black dragoness was.

There was a loud roar that sent shivers down Spyro's spine. Ember was anything but content over her last contact with the purple dragon. The two dragons continued to pace closer towards Ember's location. "Don't say anything to Ember, She is my problem, not yours." Cynder nodded slightly when Spyro glanced back to her.

The purple dragon pressed on through the dense forest, eventually reaching a small hilled clearing, with Ember laying on a stone centred atop the ridge. "Spyro!" Ember cried out upon first sight of the purple dragon, but Ember failed to notice Cynder directly behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you Ember, as much as I don't want to, there is something you have to know."

Ember got up from her laying position, and gazed at Spyro with almost all of her attention. Still oblivious that Cynder was trailing behind him, hidden completely from view from her heightened position. "W-what is it Spyro?"

"Ember, I know that you want nothing more than to call me your own, but you can never understand me when I say it. So I'll tell you once more. Leave me alone, I don't love you!"

"B-but Spyro, we've been together for years, we fought alongside each other for years against Malefor. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"It means nothing to me Ember. We may've fought beside each other but that was purely diplomatic. I only consider you as a friend, and nothing more." Spyro turned around and headed back down the hill, revealing Cynder behind him in the process.

"You! You took him away from me!" Ember shot up from her position and jumped down from the stone, growling heavily in the process. "I should've known Spyro had a soft spot for you, otherwise he would've let you die after I beat you this morning!" Spyro continued on his way, pushing Cynder before him, not wanting to create another fight. "Coward Cynder! You don't deserve to be with Spyro. You don't even deserve to be alive now!"

"Just keep going Cynder, ignore her." Spyro whispered quietly to Cynder, pushing her forward with the side of his head against her side.

"Cynder! I should've killed you when I had the chance! But it won't take long for me to catch you alone, Spyro can't protect you forever! One day, I'll have my revenge!"

Cynder stopped mid-stride. She knew that Ember wasn't one to go back on her word, but if she knew that Ember thought she could win, it would do wonders to her confidence. And Cynder wasn't going to let a threat go unanswered.

"Cynder, lets go. I will never leave you," Spyro prodded at her side, trying to keep Cynder going away from Ember.

"This is now my fight Spyro. And Ember needs to learn a thing or two about me." Cynder took a step away from Spyro, and faced the pink dragoness standing at the top of the hill.

"Be careful Cynder, I am here if you need me." Spyro turned to face Ember, but held his gaze intent on his love.

"So, the might black dragon decided to face the music once more…" Ember mocked while slowly stepping her way down the hillside. "This is going to be 'fun'."

"Not nearly as fun as it will be for me." Cynder padded forward, holding her head high to try and make level ground with Ember. As the two dragonesses cape within striking distance, the fight began.

Cynder leapt to her hind legs and quickly grabbed Ember's forelegs with her own. "This is almost too easy." Ember mocked, lowering her head to ram her horns into Cynder.

Cynder ducked her head and avoided Ember's attack, flicking her into the air using the pink dragonesses momentum against her. Cynder quickly flew after Ember, taking the fight to the air once more, starting the continuous flail of claws and teeth that was their fight from the morning.

Spyro kept a ready stance. He wanted to leave Ember alone and keep Cynder safe from the world, but all she wanted was revenge.

Cynder slashed her claws across Ember's back, releasing a roar of pain from the pink dragoness, only to be struck in the chest by another swipe from Cynder. Blood seeped out of Ember's wounds, covering her pink scales with the warm crimson liquid.

Ember felt her strength weaken. The wounds from their morning bout still fresh in her form. Cynder held every advantage, and was holding nothing back against the pink dragoness. Revenge was the only thing inside Cynder's mind, and there was nothing stopping her.

Spyro watched on as a drop of blood landed on the edge of his snout. He snapped out of his trance and inspected it for a moment. After finding out that it wasn't Cynder's he quickly wiped it off. He did worry for Ember's wellbeing, but Cynder was where his heart lay.

Cynder continued to dominate the slowing pink dragoness, leaving cuts and gashes across her entire form. And it wasn't long until Ember lost all strength, plummeting to the ground as Cynder released her lifeless form.

Spyro leapt into the air to catch Ember and place her on the stone where she once sat. "I can't let her die Cynder, as much as you might not like it, we need Ember to help our race."

Cynder lazily fell to the ground and landed with a slight thud, waiting for Spyro to leave Ember on the stone in the centre of the clearing. "Who are you going to tell about her location?"

"I think Flame would want to know the most. I think Ember owes him an apology after what she did to him." Spyro left Ember's limp form on the stone and padded pack to Cynder, who was cleaning the blood off her talons and body. "Let me help you." Spyro padded over to Cynder and licked the top of her head and neck, the two places unreachable to her.

"You didn't have to do that Spyro." Cynder had stopped completely as Spyro licked her. She had cleaned her entire chest and Spyro had continued to clean her.

"What if I wanted to?"

Both dragons laughed softly before leaving the small clearing. Spyro didn't worry about Ember's health as Cynder never made any life threatening injuries. But it was just enough to make her pass out. But Ember needed to be taught a lesson and Spyro knew that ether one of them would have to do it.

"Do you know if Flame would ever forgive Ember for what she did to him?" Cynder asked as they both took off into the air once more.

"He loves her, and I know it. But it might take a while for Ember to figure that out. You did give her quite a shot to the head."

"I only wanted her to feel what I did. Call it revenge if you will. But I was not going to let her think that I needed you to defend me."

"I wouldn't let her harm you in any way Cynder. If she did I don't know what would've happened."

The two dragons continued on their way into the dragon temple, landing in the main foyer, instantly finding Flame collapsed in a corner, curled up in a balled mass of red scales. Spyro quickly waved Cynder off towards the bedrooms, wanting to talk to Flame alone for a moment. Although Cynder hesitated for a moment, she knew Spyro meant well. "I will see you in a little while…" He cooed softly. "I love you Cynder."

"I love you Spyro." Cynder quickly disappeared down a corridor. Spyro didn't turn away until she was hidden from view, but promptly turned to face Flame.

"Flame? What's wrong?" Spyro padded closer to the red dragon, he seemed distressed and Spyro could only guess why.

"It's Ember… All she ever wanted was you!" Flame kept his head buried underneath his wings, muffling every word. "I should've known better than to let myself fall to her actions. It was too good to be true."

"Flame, stop thinking like that. Because Ember actually needs you now."

"Did she tell you that?"

"No, she is injured in the forest. Unconscious in a clearing. She will need help when she wakes up, but for now she is stuck out there alone."

Flame picked his head up from underneath his wing. "What happened to her?"

"Ember and Cynder got into a fight and I refuse to help her. You are the only one who knows where she is now so it will give you some time alone with her."

"What's the use? Ember only likes you. Even then it is just because of your colour."

"Flame, Ember knows that I don't love her back. I never have, but it has only just become clear to her now. But I suppose that you should know now. I love Cynder."

Flame quickly jumped to his feet. Struggling to keep his voice down in the process. "Are you nuts? Do you know how many dragons will resent her as your love?"

"Yes, but I don't care. If they can't accept my choice then I will leave with her no matter what. I have planned for every possible reaction, but I need you to accept my choice no matter what."

Flame stepped back from Spyro, pressing himself against the wall. "I- yo-" Flame continued to think the scenario through. "But… Why Cynder?"

"There is something about her that makes me feel like everyone else. She accepts me for who I am, not the colour of my scales."

"This is your choice Spyro," Flame started, slowly pacing past the purple dragon and heading towards the exit of the dragon temple. "I have nothing against your decision, and I hope that you and Cynder have a wonderful life together." The red dragon turned away to take flight, but turned his head back to glance at Spyro once more. "If only Ember could accept others for who they are."

"We can only hope." Spyro said in reply, promptly nodding Flame off as he floated high above the dense jungle of Avalar in search of the battered pink dragoness. "Good luck Flame. I only wish that Ember sees what is before her." Spyro muttered quietly to himself.

The purple dragon turned towards where his quarters was situated, knowing that Cynder would be awaiting his arrival. But what she may have planned for Spyro, only Cynder knew.


	7. First for Everything

**Chapter 7:** **First for Everything**

Spyro clicked his way down the many corridors towards his quarters, passing few along his way. But the small group that he did pass seemed to take almost no notice of him. As if the group of female dragons had finally accepted his challenges against them and their attempts to try and become his mate. But Spyro could really care less, he already had chosen a mate, they just didn't know it yet.

It took several minutes, but eventually the purple dragon reached his room, but to his surprise Cynder wasn't standing outside waiting for him. It was a quick thought, but he shook it off nonetheless. After all, it would look pretty strange if Cynder was just standing outside his room for no reason. Spyro clicked open his door and stepped inside, examining the mess that was his room.

His bed was a mess, the sheets were bunched up at one end of the bed, the floor was covered in several small items, most notably several pieces of the torn curtain that covered the majority of his smallish home.

"I really need to clean this up…" Spyro said to himself quietly, but quickly remembered why he came back up to his quarters in the first place. "But where is Cynder?" Spyro immediately turned out of his room and continued on his way down the long corridor towards Cynder's quarters. "I really wish that she picked a closer room…" The long journey down the hallway towards Cynder's room was long to say the least. But Spyro really couldn't blame Cynder for choosing such an 'out the way' location.

Upon reaching Cynder's room, Spyro quietly tapped on the outside of the door. "Cyn? Are you in there?" He asked, hoping for the black dragoness to respond.

There was a slight cluttering sound that emerged from inside the room before a reply came. "Y-yes Spyro. I'll be out in a minute…" Her voice seemed slightly off pitch from usual.

"May I come in?" Spyro quickly responded as the strange sounds continued to escape from inside.

"No, I'll be out in a minute…" The black dragoness's voice was quick to reply, forcing Spyro into a corner with options on the situation, in a way.

"If you don't want to come with me when I tell the guardians then it's ok…"

"It's not that…" Cynder said quickly.

"What are you doing in there anyway?" Spyro paused for a moment, getting no answer in reply. "Cyn?"

"Why are you calling me that?" The question struck a cord inside Spyro's mind. He had never said it before, or at least he couldn't recall that anyway. But either way, the question worked for Cynder in buying the time she wanted. Appearing moments later, Cynder promptly shut the door behind her, revealing nothing of her room to the purple male standing before her. "Well? Since when have you called me 'Cyn'?"

"I don't know, I guess only just then… Why? Don't you like it?"

"No… It's… Nice." Cynder wrapped her tail around Spyro's. "Come on, don't you want to tell the guardians about us?" The black dragoness motioned with her head to move down the seemingly endless hallway, trying her best to keep Spyro's mind off what she was doing. Although she was only placing her things in a small place, on the off chance that Spyro wanted her to join him that night.

"Yes, I do… But we have to think about this for a moment, I think that the others will notice if you have your tail around mine." The purple dragon quickly glanced back at his, and her, hind sections. They both seemed to be glued against each other for some reason.

"Sorry," The black dragoness immediately released Spyro's tail, allowing air once again between the two. "I think that I could be able to permanently walk around like that though." She said with a slight giggle.

Spyro joined Cynder in the short laugh, knowing on the inside that he would love to live like that too but, somehow, in time he knew that it would eventually get that way. "Come on, we don't have all day to do this. I know that there will be more than a few comments brought up about this when we arrive, so I want some free time by the end of the day." Spyro said as another half joke.

"Spyro, all we have nowadays is free time, how much more could you want?" Cynder asked, bounding along to catch up to Spyro.

"I could always have more time alone with you…" He said with his head turned back to face hers.

Spyro's sudden move took Cynder by surprise, but as their last encounter at being that close ended with their lips locked together, Cynder was wary about the situation, not wanting to bring attention to them at such a time. The black dragoness quickly glanced around, and after she believed the area was clear, she gave Spyro a quick peck on the cheek.

"We have to get going…" She said quickly, noticing that Spyro's facial colour visibly deepened. But her face would've deepened too if it wasn't for her black colour. Her embarrassment was strong at the moment, but thankfully the only way to tell was through her body language and voice volume.

The purple dragon looked straight down the corridor, using all of his willpower to remain calm and in control of his emotions. There was nothing more he wanted than to call Cynder his own in that moment, but he knew that there would be problems that arose if that were ever to be the case anytime soon. Sure, Spyro was overjoyed to have Cynder at his side, so was Cynder to have him. But to take it that step further would mean everything to him. But they had only been together for a couple of hours at most, but that wouldn't change Spyro's actions if given the opportunity.

"Your right…" Spyro quickly forced himself to say. "We should get going now."

Cynder laughed softly at Spyro's quickly spoken words. The purple dragon's almost shaking voice only made his embarrassment all the more amusing, but Cynder couldn't be one to point and laugh, as she was almost at the same level he was.

The two walked close by, but left enough space to prove that nothing was going on if others were to look. The group of female dragons Spyro had spotted on his way up had moved, much to his delight, and so they continued without interruption deeper into the temple, heading to the staircase up towards the pool of visions. As that was where the guardians spent most of their time. For if they weren't lecturing the younger dragons on abilities or to break up a fight that would emerge throughout the ranks.

It took several minutes for both dragons to reach the pool, and luckily to them the halls were deserted. So with every clear passageway, Cynder would inch closer to Spyro, until they reached the pool itself. Which, to Spyro's luck, was where the three remaining guardians were found.

"Ah, Spyro. So good it is to see you again." Cyril was the first to speak up, for being named the head guardian after Ignitus had passed. The two remaining guardians turned around as Cyril spoke up too.

"So good it is to see you again." Volteer quickly added. "Why, Cynder. I haven't seen you since the day you arrived. What brings you both here?"

"Actually, we both came for the same reason really…" Spyro said first, sitting on his haunches beside Cynder. "It's actually something important."

"Well, don't hold it from us Spyro. What news do you have?" The ice guardian spoke up, moving forward in line with the other two.

Cynder inched closer to Spyro once more, she barely knew the guardians, so she would leave the talking to Spyro.

"Umm, well… You see…" Spyro stammered, feeling Cynder's tail wrap around his out of view from the guardians.

"Out with it Spyro, how bad could it be?" Terrador finally spoke up, causing Cynder to inch closer to Spyro once more. "Are you two cold or something?"

"I think that's the reason why he came…" Volteer said once more, noticing Cynder starting to press against Spyro. "It is exactly how the pool showed us."

The purple dragon stood up quickly, inadvertently sending Cynder away from him. "What are you talking about?"

"Spyro, it is nothing to be worried about. In fact, I knew the reason why you came the moment I saw Cynder beside you." The electric guardian spoke again.

"So you know about-"

"Yes Spyro, we do… And we all couldn't be happier for you and Cynder. Although I'm not sure as to what the others will make of this." Cyril said again, allowing Spyro to breathe easier.

"So far only Flame and Ember are the only others who know about us." Spyro replied quickly as Cynder stepped to his side again. "But at the moment Flame is tending to Ember out in the forest."

'"We saw the fight you two had this morning-"

"You did? Then why didn't you stop it?" Cynder spoke up, interrupting the ice guardian.

"That, Cynder, is a result of what Spyro wanted for us to do." Cyril said with what almost seemed to be regret. "But because we owe our lives to him, we agreed to leave everything about it alone. Although it has left many injured just from the process."

"Spyro? What did you do?" Cynder asked, wondering why he would rule out the guardians from breaking up fights within the temple.

"I didn't want the guardians to waste their time on trying to stop the others from fighting over me." He said, almost embarrassed that he was referring to himself over the argument. "I knew that it was going to happen, and I was right. So, I almost forbid the guardians to step in and break up a fight when it was over me." Spyro paused for a moment, as Cynder understood exactly why Spyro put the rule into place. The entire female dragon population, as small as it may've been, had been at each other's throats for as long as she could remember. "You've seen them haven't you? Every single one of them has come form of wound brought on by themselves over something as stupid as who their mate will be! Do you know how hard it is to be the one that everyone wants a piece of?" The purple dragon turned around to face Cynder as his voice almost reached shouting level.

"No, I don't! But maybe I would like that kind of attention sometime!" Cynder shouted back at Spyro.

"It's terrible! Everyone's watching you, everyone knows where you are or what you're doing! Have you lived a moment with a constant shadow of other dragons behind you?"

"I haven't ok!" Cynder turned away from Spyro. "But that doesn't mean that I would like to experience something like that. The feeling of being wanted, sought after, to have others wish that you existed…"

"Cynder, don't say that." Spyro walked back to the black dragoness' side, almost immediately changing from anger to sorrow in less than an instant.

"What difference does it make? Maybe I should just go, the others deserve you more than I do…" Cynder started walking towards the exit as Spyro quickly jumped over her and landed before the exit.

"But that's it, they don't… The others constantly fought day and night just to be at my side, like you are now. And that is why I chose you over them."

"Why? Because I wasn't one of the ones that knew it was never going to happen…" Cynder said with her face pointing at the floor.

"No, you were the only one that wasn't fighting. You were the only one that seemed to detest the whole idea. That's why I chose you over the others. I don't care if you can win a fight… I love you for how you are." Spyro paused for a moment to walk forwards to Cynder's side. "But you should know that by now." Spyro rubbed the side of his head against hers.

"Do you remember the last time you saw something like that?" Both Spyro and Cynder overheard Terrador behind them.

"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Cyril was first to reply.

Spyro pulled himself away from Cynder for a moment, stepping towards the guardians. "This wouldn't have happened if you didn't say anything…"

"Spyro, this is nothing to be worried about. It happens all the time between dragon couples." Volteer said quickly. "But sometimes arguments are all that you need. Although you might have missed it, but you said it yourself, the exact reason why you want to be with Cynder, ask her yourself. Something came up that she needed to hear."

"What?" Spyro turned around only to nudge his head against Cynder's.

"You said it yourself Spyro."

"What did I say?"

"Only what was exactly right." Cynder whispered into his ear and rubbed against Spyro's side once more and linked the end of her tail with his.

"Alright, now that that's settled, Spyro, do you have anymore news for us?" Cyril spoke once more. The purple dragon was clearly distracted, missing everything that the ice guardian had said. "Spyro!"

"Y-yes Cyril?" He quickly stammered.

A loud sigh emanated from the ice guardian. "You can go now." The two smaller dragons almost immediately turned around and bounded out the door together.

"Those two have a long future ahead of them. If only they knew…"

"Knew what Volteer?" Terrador said, almost knowing the answer that was sure to follow.

"If only they knew what lay ahead of them, there is much in both of their futures… But they get to enjoy themselves for a while… At least."


	8. Away from the World

**Chapter 8:** **Away From the World**

As the two dragons walked side-by-side down the long corridors, Spyro and Cynder almost didn't care if others were able to see them. They were both overjoyed with their world and how everything had turned out for them. For Cynder it was her one true dream to be with Spyro, and although she had fanaticised such an event, in her mind, it truly never felt this good. He had admitted to loving her without even realising it which, for some reason, made it seem all the more special to Cynder. But he had said it before, when they were in Spyro's own hand made cave he admitted to it, but having him say it without even knowing meant something special to the black dragoness.

Spyro seemed to direct Cynder back through the corridors that they had just travelled down to reach the pool of visions, leading them back to their own respective quarters. But as the two dragons reached the doorway into Spyro's room, that was when the purple dragon was lost within himself.

_Should I ask her in?_ _What if she says no if I ask?_ Spyro glanced around the long hallway looking at anything but the young dragoness before him, which only made his indecision all the more obvious.

"Spyro, we still have half the day left," Cynder said after a few moments of silence. "What are we doing back here?"

The purple dragon suddenly found his train of thought and refocused back to Cynder. "I don't know, we just stared walking and ended up here…"

"Right…" Cynder said in disbelief. Although she wouldn't have wanted anything more than to be alone with Spyro, shut off from the world. "Well?"

"Well what?" Spyro asked in a half serious tone.

Cynder chuckled slightly at the purple dragon's inability to stay on one subject. "Well," The black dragoness tilted her head slightly and brushed up against Spyro. "Are we going to do anything?"

Spyro simply returned her affection with one of his own and turned back towards the main part of the temple. _There must be something to do around here… _The purple dragon thought to himself, wanting to get out of the situation as soon as possible. "But for now, I'm hungry… Do you want some lunch?"

Cynder turned with Spyro hesitantly, she wanted to be alone with Spyro, regardless of how long they had been together. She knew that everything was right, that he wouldn't change anything if given the chance. But Spyro had said it himself, he wasn't ready just yet. He wanted to have some time of freedom before becoming a father. Cynder wasn't looking forward to having offspring yet either, but she wanted to have Spyro as her own, to call him her own. She didn't care if she fell gravid and had to lay an egg, Cynder just wanted Spyro.

"That would be nice." Cynder said in a sigh.

Spyro then realised what she wanted, then the purple dragon thought about it himself, realising that his own words stood between them. He shook off the thought quickly, knowing that each second dwelling on it would only make it harder to follow his words. It was then that Spyro wrapped his tail around Cynder's, and started walking down the corridor.

_I have to try harder, he didn't even realise what I meant!_ Cynder shouted inwardly at herself. _There must be something I can do to get his attention._ Cynder then remembered her action from before they left to go to the pool of visions. The black dragoness held herself against Spyro and this time licked his cheek slightly, which was more than enough to get a reaction.

Spyro stopped in his tracks and searched both far ends of the corridor, unfortunately to him the purple dragon heard other coming from the path before them. Immediately causing Spyro to step away from Cynder and seal all emotions within him.

Approaching around the corner were two dragons that looked like they were together, much like Spyro and Cynder were, but these two were able to show the world about their relationship.

One of the approaching dragons had very bright scales, almost white, but as it approached Spyro and Cynder a slight yellow tint became visible. Four horns sat at the base of the dragon's skull with a slight king angling out at the same points, almost like lightning bolts would ark out at the ground. As the electric dragon approached it became clearer that it was a male dragon.

To his left was a near fluorescent red dragoness with two spiralling horns which spiralled outward near the top of her head. The red dragoness was held close against the male much like how Spyro and Cynder were moments ago, but upon noticing the purple dragon, the unknown couple seemed interested in meeting Spyro, just for the fact that he was the saviour.

"Hey, Spyro!" The light yellow dragon spoke. "I've been meaning to find you for a while now… Where have you been?" Spyro, still trying to hide his emotions from Cynder's affection struggled to notice the other dragon's call. "I've been looking for weeks, and I never realised how big this place really is."

Cynder glanced at Spyro, and noticed that she had almost physically incapacitated the male, so she decided to cover for him. "He's been showing me around." Cynder stepped forward towards the two dragons. "But your right, this is a big place."

"I suppose that you could get lost in it easily." The red dragoness added, promptly followed by a slight laugh of all three dragons. "You're Cynder, right? The 'evil' one?"

It was moments like these that Cynder wished that she hadn't come back to the dragon temple after Malefor's defeat. "Not anymore and never again" The black dragoness said through clenched teeth, trying not to lose herself from that one ill aimed comment.

"I'm sorry if you took it the wrong way… But I don't understand why none of the others trust you. The day you arrived here unconscious the guardians gathered everyone and explained that nothing could happen, that you were one of us again." The red dragoness quickly explained.

"So you are the second, non-guardian to trust me?"

"If you want to put it that way, yes." The red dragoness answered.

Cynder was uneasy about the whole situation, but as she knew almost nothing about the guardians it was all she had to go by as Spyro wouldn't have been there for the supposed 'meeting' the guardians had called.

"So who are you two?" Cynder asked, wondering how much they trusted her.

"I'm Singe," The red dragoness started. "And this is my-"

"Jolt. My name is Jolt." The electric dragon spoke quickly, cutting off Singe.

The red dragoness turned to face Jolt. "All I was going to say was…" She leaned in and whispered into the male dragon's ear. Promptly after she finished talking, a shocked look covered Jolt's face. "That was all."

"Then I'm happy I stopped you. But we should get going now, it was nice meeting you Cynder… And, Spyro?"

The purple dragon snapped out of his trance-like state upon hearing his name. "Y-yes? Sorry, what did you say?"

The red dragoness nudged Jolt with her form slightly. "Never mind Spyro, it was nice meeting you both." Singe said before Jolt could answer, and she started walking slowly as Jolt finally decided to go with her, their tails intertwined.

Spyro waited until the two were out of view before speaking. "Who were they?"

"They were Singe and Jolt. And they were interested in talking to you."

"Oh… How long were they talking to me?"

"Not long. I kept them distracted for long enough for them not to notice anything about you, so in a way, you owe me one." Cynder said as she stepped back to Spyro's side.

"I owe you? If it wasn't for you licking me then I would've been fine."

"Oh really? Is that what you think?" Cynder said with an opportunistic tone. "Maybe then I shouldn't do this." The black dragoness rubbed against Spyro's side once more, running the tip of her bladed tail up the underside of Spyro's, causing the dragon to shiver from her touch.

"Cyn, you have to stop doing that…" Spyro said with his voice almost shaking.

"Now there's that name again…" The black dragoness turned around and rubbed herself against Spyro again, nipping at the end of his tail playfully. _I knew this would work! He's going to lose it soon!_

"Cynder, you have to stop this…"

"Or what? You're going to lose yourself like you did through that entire conversation?" Cynder answered after tugging at one of his forepaws with her tail.

"You have to stop before we do something we'll regret. You said it yourself, it's too soon."

"Spyro, I know what I said, but there is nothing I can do about this. I can't seem to control my actions as much when I'm around you, it's like there's a force driving me to act this way."

"I know what you mean Cynder." Spyro said regretfully. "But if you can't stop this I'm going to have to."

"What are you talking about Spyro? What's going on?"

"I know why you're acting this way. If what you told me is true then this is simply the nature of it all." Cynder stepped in front of the purple male, confused by what he said. "I knew that this would happen if I wasn't careful…"

"What is it Spyro? Tell me…"

"I am getting the same urges that you are towards me, but males usually have a better control over their instincts than females do. What you are going through could be one of many things, but there are two answers that will stop your behaviour."

Cynder shook her head slightly. "I'm sorry, what was that Spyro?" She had clearly missed everything that Spyro had just said.

"That's exactly what I mean. You just can't control yourself so the options are either that we do what you're proposing, and run the risk of becoming parents, or we stay apart for a while until we can think straight."

"I don't care anymore Spyro!" Cynder shouted back at the purple dragon.

"Do you know how many-" Spyro stopped speaking and looked towards the main part of the temple, hearing the remnants of Cynder's shout echo throughout the entire temple. "Come on, we have to get out of here unless we want them to know about us!"

"I don't care anymore Spyro, I want them to know about us, I don't want to have to hide ourselves from the world."

"Unfortunately, I do care." Spyro grabbed hold of one of Cynder's forelegs with one of his own. "Come on, we have to hide."

Spyro quickly moved back to his room and opened the door for them both to enter. It was Cynder who went in first and Spyro immediately shut the door behind him.

It was exactly how Cynder remembered it, even though it had only been a few hours since she had seen it. The single book-shelf was filled almost beyond capacity, his bed was still a mess from when she had lay on it, and the curtain had disappeared completely. Not even remnants of the fabric were on the floor, but Cynder's attention wasn't on the room, it was the owner of it.

"Are you happy now? We're away alone just as you wanted."

"Spyro, I'm sorry…"

"Don't be Cynder. You can't help this, and soon enough I'm not either."

"But you never told me what it is…" Cynder sat down on her haunches, staring straight into Spyro's amethyst eyes.

"It's just our instinct Cynder. Our desire to mate with the one we're closest to."

"You said there were two things…"

"And that one's purely you. It isn't a bad thing but it's just your cycle. I thought you knew all of this…"

Cynder simply shook her head. "It's all new to me…"

"It's ok Cynder… I know that it's not your fault." Spyro stepped forward and stood on his bed, facing out the window, watching as the near cloudless sky rolled by. _I should fix that…_ Spyro thought to himself, picking up the sheet in his mouth and pinning it to the wall the same way the curtain was.

"Do you know if we're going to-?" Cynder quickly blurted out as the breeze generated by the sheet carried over wafts of Spyro's scent.

"I don't know Cynder. I will resist my urge for as long as I can, but that might not be for long." Spyro finished sticking up his make-shift curtain, allowing the two privacy from the outside world

"Is it ok if I lay next to you?"

Spyro looked across to Cynder, and then back at where he was laying. There was enough room for them both if he moved over, but indecision struck him once more. _I know how this is going to end…_ Spyro glanced back at Cynder again, and then followed with the lesser of two evils. "If you want to."

Cynder slowly stepped onto Spyro's bed and lay against the male, his scent stronger than she could ever remember. "I'm sorry for this Spyro, I know that you wanted to wait-"

"Nothing's happened yet Cynder, so there's nothing to be sorry about. But I know that the others will be going back and forth trying to find either of us, and I know that they'll be watching outside, so all we can do is wait until the coast is clear."

Cynder coiled her tail around Spyro's, pressing them much closer together. Spyro wanted Cynder like he never had before. His mind actually came to the conclusion that there was only one option in his situation. They were stuck in his room, and all other dragons would be searching the temple, trying to find the source of the shout. All the other dragons knew was that Spyro was involved, that was it.

But it was only the female population that wanted to know what was happening. Spyro knew that this would happen, and thankfully he had, in one of his previous speeches, made all contact to him, while he was inside his room, cause the culprit to seem 'less wanted' by the purple dragon. It was an absurd rule and Spyro knew it, but it worked nonetheless. Otherwise he would never get any sleep.

Spyro picked his head up and turned to face Cynder, who was staring straight at him. There was nothing else he wanted than to call Cynder his own, and he felt that the moment was sooner than he expected. "Cynder?" He said slowly.

"Yes Spyro?" Cynder replied, tightening her grip on the purple dragon's tail.

Spyro breathed deeply, taking in as much of the dragoness' scent as possible. "I don't think I can restrain myself for as long as I wanted to…"

"Don't" Was all Cynder could reply. For they were hidden together, away from the world.


	9. Feelings Emerged

**Chapter 9:** **Feelings Emerged**

Everything was slowing down, breathing seemed to take an age to complete. But it wasn't only slowing, but it was getting harder too, as if something was shouting from inside, wanting to be released. As it continued to become more taxing for a breath the familiar touch of one she knew held the dragoness within consciousness. The dragon before her had provided everything she needed to get through the moment, even more than what she required, but for some reason, she thought that it wasn't enough.

After fighting against the one she despised above all else, she thought that everything was going to be fine, she thought that everything would work out. But the actions she took were far from what he wanted to see.

The final blow that would've killed the hated dragoness turned out to kill everything else inside her. After seeing Spyro, her love, call out after the traitor of their kind, something died inside of Ember.

Flame lay against her near still form, with one of his wings draped over Ember's body to try and retain some warmth inside her body. The blood Ember did lose was substantial, but not enough to create a problem enough for Flame to alert the guardians about her health. And since, by what Spyro said, he was the only one who knew of Ember's location, the fire dragon planned on trying to make the hint clear to the pink dragoness. He loved her, but she had been too blind to see it.

The occasional twitch that came from Ember's body kept Flame alert of her health, as the more often they occurred, the more likely she was to spring awake, and Flame had everything within his tail's reach. He had caught a small meal and collected some water for the dragoness for when she was to awake, but until that time, all he could do was wait for her to awaken.

The crimson dragon huddled closer to the pink dragoness as a chilling wind blew past them. Flame knew that Ember would be furious with him when she came to, and figured out that he was so close to her, but e had no choice, either that or chance that the dragoness would die.

_Come on Ember, you have to wake up soon!_ Flame shouted inside himself. _You've been out here for hours._

There was another twitch from the dragoness, causing her tail to flick out from between them to behind her, allowing another chilling gust to penetrate between the two, even causing Flame to shiver slightly.

Flame had thought about creating a fire, but the smoke would bring attention to his location, thus almost inviting the entire population to find them. But his method worked well, despite the times that Ember would break the air-tight lock he had them inside. The red dragon reached down with his own tail, trying to reach Ember's and put it back into position, finding that it was out of reach from him. The pink dragoness twitched again, giving Flame a light shove from one of her forepaws. Flame tried to reach for Ember's tail once more, but couldn't reach any further than her hip-line.

The red dragon shifted enough to be able to stand without disturbing Ember any more than the chilling breeze would. And as the fire dragon picked himself up from the ground Ember's form naturally curled up to try and stay warm. Flame then turned around and stepped towards the dragoness' hind section, reaching out with one of his forepaws to reach her tail, but it was in this moment that Ember came to.

As the female dragon felt the touch of something unknown against her tail, she immediately thought of nothing more than to attack, regardless of what it was. As Ember jumped to her feet though, the shearing pain that were her injuries grounded the dragoness once more, leaving her only to allow a menacing growl to escape her throat.

Flame felt Ember jump, which caused him, in turn, to turn around in shock and see the pink dragoness collapse against the grass once more. "Ember, calm down. It's only me."

"Where?" Was the only sound Flame could understand as actual language.

"Where is what? Just relax Ember, you are in no condition to do anything." Flame said, trying to approach the pink dragoness once more.

"Cy-Cyn… Cyn-der…" Was all the pink dragoness could say, but she continued the deep growl which kept Flame at his position.

"Cynder's with Spyro back at the temple." Ember's growl grew louder for a moment as she opened her mouth in what looked as an attempt to roar, but in her damaged state nothing came out. "Ember, calm down. I am the only one that knows you're our here, and if I go your on your own."

"G-go… I… Don't ne… Need y-you." Ember managed to stutter out. The pink dragoness started fighting against herself to try and stand up, but her weakened limbs couldn't pick her form up off the ground.

"Alright, fine. If you don't need me then I guess that you can get back on your own." The fire dragon then started walking towards the dragon temple, leaving the helpless dragoness on the ground with no strength or energy to move.

Flame could hear Ember growl in pain as she tried to stand up once more, promptly followed by a dull thud and a louder, more pain filled roar. "F… Flame…" She cried out. "Come… B-back…"

The fire dragon stopped and turned back to find Ember lying on the ground, flattened completely against the grass. The whipping winds passed over the dragoness' form, causing her to visibly shiver. "But I thought you didn't need me. That you never wanted me around in the first place… Ever."

Ember tried to lift her head up from the ground, finding that something as simple as that was harder than all of Terrador's training sessions added together. "Please." She managed to say shakily. But Flame stayed his position for several moments.

He truly wanted to help the dragoness before him, but would she just take his help with no recognition once again. Would she leave him alone in the world like the seemingly countless other times he went out of his way to help the dragoness. Flame stood still, watching the pink dragoness cringe and shudder as each gust blew past.

The red dragon really had no choice, even if she was to blow him off after he helped her again Flame couldn't leave her to almost certainly die out in the wilderness. Flame didn't speak a word, but stepped towards the still dragoness before him and picked up the small jar of water he collected. "Drink this." Flame spoke calmly as he placed the bottom edge of the container to Ember's bottom jaw, slowly pouring the liquid into her mouth. Flame lay down beside the dragoness, draping a wing over her as he had when she was unconscious, but this time it wasn't rejected as Ember felt the warmth that it almost instantly brought. Ember even went as far as tucking her tail between the both of them to stay warm, but Flame took no notice of it, trying to cover most of Ember's body as he could with his own.

* * *

_How much longer could they be out there?_ Spyro thought to himself. Cynder had seemingly fallen asleep against his side, but it was a position the purple dragon was less than comfortable with.

As time went on, Cynder tossed and turned against Spyro's side, until she eventually found herself laying on top of him. But it was Cynder's tail that kept tapping the side of Spyro's head that was unnerving. The purple dragon was constantly tapped by the constant movement the black dragoness' tail had attained.

Although Cynder's position couldn't make Spyro feel any more uncomfortable, he had managed to tuck his tail tightly against his side, as just before Cynder did fall asleep she continually tried to play with it, scratching it's underside and only making his attempts at restraint all the more difficult.

Although his dragonhood was at its full extent, he managed to keep it underneath himself and away from Cynder which he also thought was one of the very few good things of the moment.

The constant clicking of dragons that walked past his room was almost endless, as if they were taking turns to watch, waiting for the moment he would emerge and then pounce on him with an endless array of questions.

Many hours had passed since the two were locked inside Spyro's room, and hunger was almost becoming too much for the male dragon. Before the whole ordeal started he was hungry, but now starvation was closer to what the purple dragon was feeling. His stomach grumbled once more, making Spyro shift his position to lie on his side, causing Cynder to roll off him which woke the black dragoness up.

The moment Spyro realised that Cynder was awake again was that her claws lightly scratched the base of his tail. _Oh no._ He thought.

The black dragoness clawed her way back against Spyro, tracing around the groves on his hind leg with one of her talons. Spyro could feel Cynder start at the very base of his paw and work its way up the side of his leg, the trail continuing on the top-side of his hind leg and working is way to the base of Spyro's tail.

Spyro felt Cynder's tail work its way to underneath his chin, causing the purple dragon to almost worry as he could feel the blade like edges slide smoothly against his throat. But as he felt the blade move further away from him Cynder tightened her tail's embrace of Spyro and pulled him closer to her in the process.

Not a word was said by the two dragons as talk had become obsolete amongst the two ever since they both lay on Spyro's bed. But they both seemed to know what the other wanted, either by a quick look or a certain movement.

Cynder continued the trail of Spyro's scales around the top-side of his hind section, much to his relief, but as Cynder continued to pull him closer with her tail Spyro wondered what she had planned for him.

All Spyro could see was the back of Cynder's hind legs, the underside of her tail, and her womanhood that was just visible between her legs. Spyro had seen this side of Cynder once before, and that was when she was injured, laying on his bed much like she was now. But this time, without her injury, Spyro knew that Cynder wanted him to look.

Cynder continued to reel the male dragon closer while slowly making her way around the base of his tail to its underside, which was what she ultimately planned to reach while they were locked away.

Spyro quickly picked himself up from his bed, knowing what Cynder was trying to do. Cynder was distracting him while she tried to reach his dragonhood. But as Spyro stood, Cynder rolled onto her back, allowing herself to go naturally limp which caused the black dragoness to open herself to Spyro's full view, much like he was to her.

The purple dragon found himself at conflicting ideas once more. He wanted to make Cynder his own and make her happy. But he didn't want anything to do with hatchlings at that moment. He took another glance down at Cynder, who was staring at his body. Not directly to his eyes, but to the extension at his hind quarters. But for some reason he didn't mind it, for he quickly looked down at her hind section once more, seeing the refraction of light from the liquid that formed around her slit.

Spyro felt his member throb, almost as if it knew what he wanted, but Spyro quickly wedged his eyes shut and turned his head away from Cynder. _I will not do this! I can't! I won't! I-_

Spyro's thoughts were abruptly cut short as he felt something grab his dragonhood, effectively causing his entire form to lose itself in the wave of pleasure that washed over him. Cynder saw that Spyro was distracted, and took full advantage of it.

The purple dragon was forced onto his back this time, promptly with Cynder jumping onto him once more. But as Spyro looked down at what he expected to be Cynder's face, instead, again, he found Cynder's tail, hind legs, and open womanhood directly before his eyes. The purple dragon tried to look away and struggle against Cynder, but Spyro found that he couldn't. The black dragoness had placed both of her hind legs firmly on his forepaws, locking the male dragon in place, but while he felt Cynder touching his dragonhood, immense waves of pleasure swept across the male, leaving him with almost no free-will to resist his urges.

Spyro took a deep breath, but that was his final mistake. Spyro received a huge amount of Cynder's scent which made up his mind for him. The purple dragon lifted his head up from his bed once more, finding that Cynder had moved closer to him, placing the dragon's nose against the edge of Cynder's womanhood, causing the dragoness laying on him to freeze from what he only assumed was the pleasure he was being subjected to.

Spyro licked the warm liquid from the tip of his nose, the moment that the warm liquid touched the edge of his tongue, the male dragon only wanted more. Spyro moved his head up slightly, knowing that Cynder was closer than he remembered and took one last glimpse of the black dragoness' womanhood before he would give in to his temptation. As Spyro felt the tip of his tongue slide against the edge of Cynder's scales, he wondered why they hadn't thought about doing this before.

They weren't mating, which meant that becoming parents wasn't an issue yet they were able to become so close that both Spyro and Cynder knew that they could call each other their own. It was something that just happened for them both, which both dragons knew would mean something in the end.


	10. More Time Alone

**Chapter 10** **More Time Alone**

Spyro and Cynder had succumbed to exhaustion as they both lay beside each other, feeling the now cool remnants of their activities against their bodies, neither one with the will, or the energy to worry about anything but each other. They had been alone in Spyro's room for hours, and the afternoon sun set the room in a near black state, making it harder to find where Cynder was if she so decided to move. The two young dragons had both well past their energy would allow, but Cynder had laid atop Spyro for a while to say the least, both dragons had no idea how long it had been, they just knew that it was the best time of their respective lives.

Spyro had given in to his primal instinct, the one telling him to seize the moment and take Cynder as his own, but not once had the purple dragon considered taking the female's virginity. But something in the back of his mind was saying that everything was going to be perfect, he knew that Cynder was. But he still felt the slight tap that was Cynder's tail against the side of his head, reminding Spyro that she was still there if the time actually came for them to finally leave.

Occasionally Cynder would stop twitching her tail, causing Spyro to think that she had given in to sleeps embrace, but sure enough, after a few moments of stillness, the back dragoness would restart the monotonous tap that held Spyro in limbo between sleep and pure ecstasy.

Cynder had no thoughts whatsoever past Spyro. She had no idea what had taken over her, but the black dragoness' mind only contemplated one thing. Spyro. Seemingly instinct alone was driving the female into whatever her actions may have been, that was until she felt Spyro's nose brushed against her womanhood. It was then that her own actions suddenly came back into existence, finding that her own free will had a chance again. But as she stared at the purple dragon's extension, pulsing inches from her face, her thoughts became useless once again.

After what had become an unknown time to the dragoness, she felt her mind become functional once more. The magnetic feeling towards Spyro was almost non-existent past her own wills. She believed that they were one, but Cynder felt that she had self-control over herself once more. As if the release she felt as Spyro dug deeper inside of her womanhood was exactly what her body yearned for. Yet she knew that the urge would come again.

* * *

Flame shifted his gaze from Ember's form for a moment to watch as the shadow of the dragon temple just crept towards his position. They had been deserted for hours, but Flame had spent most of that time in isolation with the sleeping Ember nestled against him. The pink dragoness had given in completely to Flame's help much faster than usual, but she was lost, detached from the world.

Ember had lost everything. She felt like just giving in to deaths embrace and letting herself go from the world. Her one love picked another, and then left her to die out in the wilderness. Ember tried to run every possible scenario through her mind as to if anything would happen, but nothing came out. Her entire existence had revolved around becoming Spyro's mate, but that single dream was shattered much like her body and mind. She had truly lost everything.

Then Flame had turned up and tried to make everything better for her, or at least try and keep her alive anyway. But he came for the soul purpose of helping the pink dragoness, keeping her alive just because he chose to.

The pink dragoness awoke slightly, just to shift into a more comfortable position beside Flame, resting her head around her far side to hide any emotion it might show, but it gave her time to think. This wasn't the first time that Flame had helped her through a time of need. The last time Flame came to her aid was after Spyro gave one of his many countless speeches to her, denying any feelings whatsoever. As Ember soon found herself almost bursting into tears, there was Flame. Willing to try at anything he could to get Ember to calm down.

Constant thoughts continued to bombard Ember. Spyro was as good as dead to her, and the only one to blame was Cynder. The black dragoness that caused her entire life to seem worthless, she would've killed her on the spot if it wasn't for Spyro. But it was proved that if she did manage to kill Cynder that Spyro would only hate Ember in return. But either way, her life seemed pointless when the only one that anyone could love, was taken.

Cynder's thoughts then turned to Flame, she almost felt sorry for what he had to go through. As everyone else was going after Spyro, Flame ended up doing everything alone, the crimson dragon had no-one to talk to. The only time he ever was with another dragon would be at mealtimes when he chose to sit next to Spyro. But Flame never got a word in because every other dragon was glued to Spyro. Yet Spyro was his best friend. Ember found it amazing. Through all that the purple dragon unintentionally took from Flame, they still managed to stay good friends.

The pink dragoness pulled her head around to look at Flame, who immediately started staring at the crawling shadows once more as she did. This caused her to smile slightly. _He was looking at me._ Ember then felt Flame slightly loosen his embrace with his wing. After the many hours of no movement, Ember felt that her energy was renewed. She still hadn't gathered the strength, or will, to stand, but enough for her to ask a few questions.

"Flame," She started, causing him to immediately look down at her. "Why are you helping me after all I've done to you?" Ember immediately thought that it was a stupid question, the answer she had was because the dragon race needed as much help as it could. But it was when Flame took a deep breath and looked towards the sky that made her reconsider.

The crimson dragon paused for a moment, contemplating the options before him. Flame could admit to his feelings and risk losing Ember as a friend completely, or he could lie and continue to live waiting for the right time to tell her. "I ca- It's bec- I want-" Flame couldn't find the right answer, and he knew that there was no escaping the question because Ember wouldn't be able to move well enough for at least another half day, but at least he could wait until then to think of an answer. _Maybe Ember will figure it out tomorrow._

Flame continued to glance between Ember and the crawling shadows that had reached his forepaws, immediately cooling the dragon's battle hardened limbs. "Flame?"

"It will be dark soon, and it will get too cold for you with only me here." Flame stood, wanting to get some distance between him and Ember before something else came up.

"Where are you going?" Ember asked, tightening her form as much as her injuries would allow.

"I have to make a fire or else you'll freeze."

"What if you-"

"I'm going to find some wood, try to stay warm but I'll try to be back quickly. Stay in the sun for as long as you can." The crimson dragon turned away from Ember, causing her to glance at the ever approaching shadow.

"I don't want you to go, Flame!" Ember shouted as loud as her voice could go which, at the moment, wasn't much louder than her normal voice. "Flame?" He was gone.

Ember stared off in the direction that Flame had taken, feeling the chilling winds brush past her. _Why did he run off like that?_ She thought to herself. _Why was he staring at me anyway?_ But no matter what the dragoness thought, Flame was gone.

The male dragon searched as fast as he could. Not only did he want to get back to Ember, but he didn't want her to feel deserted. Despite the fact that she was almost entirely helpless against the rest of the world, Flame had no choice but to leave her to gather what she essentially needed to survive. But between his thoughts and assessment of each piece of wood he came across, Flame tried to find a better answer to Ember's first question.

Flame collected several rather large bits of lumber which he thought would burn relatively well, leaving very little smoke to be found. Although there hadn't been a lesson on staying hidden from the enemy, Flame had learnt over time that certain types of wood would burn at different rates, depending on the amount of smoke created. But after the ten minutes or so he was away, Flame was happy with what he found.

Ember, on the other hand, had never been so cold in her life. The shadow of the castle had engulfed her completely. But it was lucky for her that Flame emerged from the forest, carrying several smallish logs on his back, held in place by his tail. Flame quickened his pace at the sight of Ember, yet remained steady enough to not lose control of his collected kindling.

"Are you alright Ember?" He asked, trying to take her mind off the fact that it was cold. But he received no answer in response, only leaving him to work faster on building the fire. "It'll just be a minute." Flame quickly glanced back at Ember, who seemed to be crawling closer to where the fire was soon to be. Flame fiddled around with the bits of wood until they were set in a small uneven circle, then released a stream of fire that immediately lit the piled wood, sending a wave of heat around the area within moments. "There." Flame commented almost proudly.

Ember continued her move to beside the fire, lying on her side around it to absorb the maximum warmth that was radiating outwards from it. "Thank you." She said quietly, which was completely missed by the male dragon, who walked around to the far side of Ember and draped his wing over her once more.

"It is going to be a long night." Flame told Ember. "If you start to feel cold again just say so."

Ember looked back at Flame, but said nothing. The look in his eyes was one completely unknown to the young dragoness. It was something she had never seen before. She had seen fear, anger, sorrow and hate all before, they were all too common amongst the war against Malefor. Yet, what she saw in Flame's eyes was nothing like it. There was a hint of sorrow, but beyond that Ember couldn't tell.

Flame glided his wing further across her body as he tried to move more of himself against her. Ember believed that he was just trying to keep her warm, which was why he went to get materials for a fire. But Ember could tell that there was something that Flame wasn't telling her. It was in his eyes.

"Flame," Ember whispered. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"Because I wa-" Flame hit the invisible wall that stopped him from talking again. "I ca-" It was then that Flame stood up and took a few steps away from Ember, taking the pink dragoness by surprise, causing her to curl herself closer to the fire. _Just say it! You know what the answer is going to be._ Flame shouted inwardly at himself.

"Where are you going?" Ember quickly spoke out, watching as Flame paced back and forth across her vision.

"I don't know, I can't think straight." Flame paused for a moment and faced Ember straight on. "You should be able to walk fine tomorrow, if not then I'll bring Sparx and he can heal you, but until that time I just can't answer that question…" Flame turned away slightly. "I need to be sure that it's right."

"Know if what's right?" Ember asked, almost lost by Flame's rambling. "What's wrong Flame?"

"I-I don't know… Well, I do know, but I can't ju-" Flame paused for a moment. "It's you, I can't put things together like I used to. During the war it was easy, there was nothing to worry about, but this is different. Life has changed so much in such a short time." The crimson dragon took a few steps closer to Ember. "I've been lost on what to do lately, it's as if everything I ever had to live for doesn't exist anymore. Like I'm on my own in this world now."

Ember couldn't help but feel for Flame. She had the exact same point of view, if not just for a different reason. But they were one in the same. Ember felt lost because the only thing she thought she lived for was Spyro, and Flame at that exact moment was no use to anyone in the entire realm. "I know how you feel…" Ember spoke slowly, causing Flame to stop completely.

"No, you don't… How could you know what it's like to have nothing? Do you know what it's like to have no choice in what path your life takes? Do you know of the curse I live that is every single day? To have a choice that doesn't matter. To know that you will live life alone for eternity…"

"I know what it's like. I have nothing, that is why I told you to leave today. But you were never going to, right?" Flame simply shook his head. "I needed you then, and I need you now Flame. It's cold…"

Flame turned away for a moment, but then remembered what he had said only moments ago. The crimson dragon reluctantly stepped back to Ember's side and lay down against the dragoness, who snuggled against his side trying to regain some form of warmth once more. The fire was nice, but it didn't warm her completely. "Thank you." She said softly, looking back at Flame who refused to look at her. There was a slight grunt in response, but Ember didn't pay any attention to it. _I need you more than you know Flame. I only wish you could see that._


	11. Costly Mistake

**Chapter 11** **Costly Mistake****e**

The night was short to say the least for Ember, the constant thoughts about Flame almost driving the young dragoness insane. It was only yesterday that the male dragon came out of nowhere to care for her and effectively save her life. But it wasn't that thought which crossed her mind. It was something else.

Flame had shifted his position many times during the night, ending with the crimson dragon lying on his side with both of his forepaws around Ember's neck. Although the warmth was nice compared to the chilly air temperature, she couldn't help but think that he did it on purpose. Flame's reaction when he woke up would be more of an indicator as to if the action was intentional. Yet Ember almost felt comfortable having the male dragon like that around her, but it was when the feeling in her hind legs came to that something didn't feel right.

Ember was stuck in the grip Flame held around her, for she risked waking him if she was to move, so the pink dragoness tried to figure out what the strange feeling was. Ember twitched her tail slightly, feeling that it as unbound by everything besides her own form, so the young dragoness slid her tail out from between her legs and felt around for the source of the discomfort.

The pink dragoness slid her tail across the back of one of her legs, feeling nothing but the flawless scales that lined her form or at least that part of it anyway. Ember then checked her other leg, but as she rubbed down the back of her hind leg, she slid across something else. Something, not hers.

As Ember followed Flame's unknown limb back towards his body, the grip he held around her neck tightened greatly, causing Ember to jolt her tail backwards straight between the crimson dragon's hind legs.

There was a sharp screech as the male dragon shot awake and jumped several feet away from Ember, hiding the front of his body from view. "What did you do that for?" The male dragon forced out between very faint whimpers.

"If you hadn't of started hugging me during the night maybe it wouldn't have happened." Ember then realised what it was of Flames that was poking into her.

"I didn't mean to do that! I can't help that I never sleep still!"

Ember lowered her head back down to the ground and straightened her form to face the male dragon. "I'm sorry Flame, you just took me by surprise, that's all… I didn't mean to hit yo-"

"Just forget it." He said quickly, cutting off the dragoness. "Can you walk or do I have to go and get Sparx for you?" Ember aligned all of her limbs with her body, and uniformly applied pressure to each leg, raising her body off the ground slowly. "Good, can you walk?" The fire dragon quickly spat out, much to the dragoness' dislike, but she couldn't blame him really. Ember then picked one of her forepaws off the ground, promptly falling face first against the flattened grass where Flame had been sleeping. Flame sighed and turned back to Ember. "Hang on, I'll be back in a few minutes…"

Flame unfurled his wings and gingerly picked himself up from the ground, hopping slightly with his hind legs. "Flame… Wait."

"What is it now?" He said impatiently, struggling to keep a straight face after being hit in his dragonhood.

"I didn't meant to-"

"Yeah, I know, you said that already…"

"But I want to make it up to you…" She answered back quickly. Flame paused for a moment, then refocused on taking off towards the dragon temple. "Please…" Ember called out. Flame dropped his wings and tucked them against his side once more.

"I'm listening."

"Flame, I know that I haven't exactly been acting like a friend lately, and some of the things I've done to you recently haven't been called for at all." Ember paused for a moment.

"Ember… What are you saying?" Flame replied, still thoroughly agitated.

"I- I… I don't know. It's like what you said yesterday, about not being able to put words together."

"Well when you think of it, you can tell me. But right now I want to get out of here in one piece." Flame turned around and flared his wings once more. The way the morning light refracted off the male dragon's scales made Ember lose her train of thought. Flame twisted his neck around to face Ember. "Don't worry Ember, I get it. But if you hit me like that again there'll be no point anyway. Your right, I shouldn't have come, I should've left you out here alone, cold… See you back at the castle, if you make it!"

The male dragon tucked his legs and coiled himself to leap from the ground. "Flame wait!" Ember helplessly called out as the male dragon soared over the surrounding trees. _He thought that I did it on purpose… He thought that I didn't want him that close to me…_ The pink dragoness lay against the ground, feeling the last waves of heat coming from the dying fire behind her. "I love you…"

Flame winced each time he flicked his tail to change direction. "If she doesn't want me near her, then I'll get as far away as possible." Flame said to himself. "I was an idiot to think that she would ever change… She'll never love anyone but Spyro. Good riddance to bad company," Flame continued to speak, trying to convince himself otherwise. "I never loved her… How could I?"

The crimson dragon landed in the foyer of the dragon temple and headed up towards his quarters, wanting nothing more to do with anything. He truly felt like there was nothing left for him in the world. As Flame walked up the stairs to reach his room, the hallway was blocked by almost every single dragoness in the entire temple, all standing in front of Spyro's door. _What's going on now?_ He thought to himself.

Some of the female dragons noticed Flame enter the corridor, but many just stayed their position. _That's it._ Flame thought to himself. "Do you all want to know what Spyro's doing? Or at least why he's hiding?"

"How would you know Flame? You've been out all night!" One of them harshly shot back.

"Your right…" He replied quickly. "I have been out all night, but it was a waste of my time like I thought it was in the beginning. But that doesn't matter, my time was useless to begin with."

"No question." Another dragoness answered, only further infuriating Flame.

"That's it, out of my way!" He said harshly to the gathered dragonesses, but none even flinched. "Move before I make you!" This time Flame accompanied his threat with a fierce growl, forcing all of the dragonesses to press up against a side wall, making a clear path for the dragon to walk down.

As Flame walked past each of the dragonesses he could hear the endless supply of whispers, but he could only pick out a few words between the entire group, but as Flame reached Spyro's door, he stopped and turned back to the gathered dragonesses. "You'll find that chasing Spyro is pointless now as he already has chosen who his mate will be."

"And how would you know?" A third dragoness shouted out from way down the end.

"Because he told me!" Flame shifted his weight to one side, ignoring any pain that came from his hind section, and kicked towards Spyro's door with all of his strength, knocking it down with a mighty thud. Flame then turned around and headed back to his room as the group of dragonesses just watched, shocked by his actions.

As the gathered dragonesses heard Flame's door click shut, they all rushed into Spyro's room and found him lying on his bed with Cynder beside him. As Spyro eyed all of the unwanted visitors inside of his room, and they all stared at Cynder, the purple dragon only had one reaction.

* * *

After several hours of loneliness, Ember finally decided that she had two choices. No-one was going to help her as only two dragons knew of her location. Spyro and Flame. Spyro would probably tell the guardians as to where she was, but at the risk of Ember attacking Cynder again he would be hesitant towards informing them. And Flame, whom Ember had finally found feelings for, thought that she still wanted none other than Spyro. _Why didn't I say it when he was here?_ The pink dragoness thought to herself. _Am I going to get back? No, I have to… He must know._

The injured dragoness picked herself off the ground once more, ignoring anything that her sore limbs managed to cry in objection to the movement. She didn't care what it cost herself, Ember just didn't want Flame to do anything he would regret.

Ember remembered the last time she hurt Flame emotionally and it almost drove the male dragon mad. Although this time was more of a physical hurt that she inflicted on Flame it wouldn't be much better on him. The pink dragoness prepared herself and took a deep breath. Ember lifted her right forepaw mere inches off the ground, feeling uneasy on her feet, but stable enough to be productive with movement. Ember stepped forward slowly, then lifted her other leg, taking only half steps towards the dragon temple. The pink dragoness found it easier than before to walk, as she mainly didn't try when Flame asked her to. There was nothing more she wanted than to spend more time out in the wilderness with him, but that wasn't going to happen.

After what seemed to Ember as countless minutes of walking, the pink dragoness heard the faint sound of an aggravated roar. _The dragon temple is still miles away._ Ember thought to herself, wondering what was going on, but she feared for the worst. _I'm coming Flame._

* * *

Every single dragoness that stood in Spyro's room was blasted with supersonic sound waves that even Spyro didn't know existed. Yet he managed to control the power so it only affected those standing before him. All of the gathered dragonesses shrieked from the beyond deafening sound, but in Spyro's opinion, he didn't care. They were leaving.

Countless colours shot out into the main hallway and towards the main foyer area, others took flight out the window shooting around the massive temple into their respective rooms. Once his room was cleared, Spyro stopped the flow of power and sat back down on his bed. _I must ask where that power comes from_. The purple dragon thought to himself.

Cynder lay down against Spyro in confusion, she saw him open his maw and prepare for an attack, but nothing came out. "What was that Spyro?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know Cyn. I guess that sound is another form of an element, I'll have to ask the guardians about it next time." Spyro looked towards the now open doorway. "Although I do want to know who did that. But I guess that we don't have to hide anything anymore." The purple male said with a hint of joy. Spyro wanted something like that to happen so they could be seen in public together, and nothing happened throughout the discovery so Spyro was almost happy that his door was broken down. The guardians however wouldn't be so impressed.

"At least I can do this whenever I want to now." Cynder replied softly, licking the side of Spyro's cheek.

Spyro gave a short laugh before hearing several pairs of footsteps down the hallway. The clicks of the dragon's talons were significantly louder than that of a regular dragon, which led Spyro to worry immediately, the guardians were here.

"I want to see every single dragon in the main foyer immediately!" The earth guardians booming voice rung throughout the entire corridor and branching rooms. There was no movement or sound to be heard. "Now!" Terrador shouted out once again. This time, however, the light clicks and screeches of the old doors were heard, as one by one the dragons emerged from their respective rooms and moved down the corridor. Not a word was said between any of the dragons, beside the guardians, who counted each one as they passed. Soon all but Spyro, Cynder and Flame had passed. Terrador opened his mouth once more to shout down the corridors.

"I think it would be better if I talked to them." Cyril said to the earth guardian. "Volteer, you go and fetch Flame while I talk to Spyro and Cynder. Terrador, you should watch all of the dragons downstairs before something else is said. Maybe you can figure out who did this anyway." Cyril pointed to the broken door into Spyro's room, receiving a nod from the other guardians.

"Very well. I assume that Flame has hidden himself inside his room. Either that or he left the temple because I remember seeing him flying back, but that leaves me to ask where Ember is." The electric guardian answered back.

"See if you can find that out, and if you do, then we might need to send out a search for her." Volteer nodded once more as Cyril disappeared into Spyro's room, leaving Volteer to talk with Flame, and Terrador to keep all the others in line.

Cyril stepped inside Spyro's room to find both him and Cynder lying against each other on his bed. Of course Cyril expected nothing less from the two, as by what he saw of their future, as brief of an image as it was. The ice guardian prepared himself for what was undoubtedly to be a barrage of questions and complaints.

Volteer, however, had a much harder job of trying to talk to Flame. The electric guardian stood before the young dragon's door and tapped on it with a fair amount of force. "Flame, I need to speak to you about something." No answer. "Flame, I know what you may very well be going through at the moment but you can't let things like this eat away at you."

"What would you know about what I'm going through?" Flame answered back harshly, his voice promptly followed by a loud crash of what Volteer assumed was his bookshelf. "You have no idea on what is going on!"

"Flame, you can't let your feelings get the better of you! And I know how you feel because it happened to me when I was your age." The electric guardian admitted. "It isn't something to get your life lost over. Now you have to tell me where Ember is before something happens to her."

"Fuck Ember!" Flame shouted back at Volteer. "She wants nothing to do with anyone but Spyro. I went out there alone and saved her life, just so she could attack me when I was asleep!" There was another relatively loud smash moments after Flame finished speaking.

"Flame, open this door!" The electric guardian spoke sternly. "I know what Ember did to you was harsh, but her life could be at stake now. So you can either tell me where she is, or you can help us find her later." Volteer stood still for a moment, receiving no answer in return.

_Good, her life is at stake. Maybe then she would reconsider what she did._ Flame thought to himself. _It's not my fault she's out there, I tried to help her and all she did was attack me. Although what she did was… No, it's her own fault!_ Flame was once again arguing against himself for what was the right choice in the situation. _I'm not to blame here… Am I?_ The crimson dragon rhetorically asked himself. _Ancestors… What am I to do? I can't leaver her out there. I've got to find her._ The young dragon turned to face the window only to hear his door being ripped open behind him and an electric ark flying towards his position.

As the lights dimmed from the electric guardians shock, Flame's limbs were held against each other by several electrical arks. They didn't hurt the male dragon, but he was stuck in his position. "I'm sorry Flame, but you left me with no choice. Now, where is Ember?" Flame just held his tongue. Yes, he wanted to find and effectively re-save Ember again, but he wanted to talk with her alone. Volteer just sighed in response, picking up the binded male dragon and carrying him out of the room and into the main corridor. "You're going to have to fix that too." The electric guardian said with a slight laugh.


	12. You've Said it Before

**Chapter 12:** **You've said it Before**

"Spyro, look at what your choices have done." Cyril spoke strongly towards the purple dragon, who spent most of his attention on Cynder regardless of what the ice guardian said. "There isn't a dragon in this temple who hasn't been either hurt or effected by what has just happened."

"But I don't care about them for once." Spyro argued in defence. "For once I have been able to make a choice for myself."

"I don't have anything against the fact that you chose Cynder over the others, but that won't stop chaos to erupt within the entire temple, already we have bee-" There was a loud crash down the hall coming from where Cyril only assumed was Flame's room. The ice guardian took a deep sigh. "Do you know who broke your door?"

Spyro simply shook his head. "I heard a few shouts from the hall just before it happened but I don't know who did it."

Cyril glanced towards the window, finding Spyro's sheet stuck over the top of it to obscure everything from the outside. "Do you know who broke your curtain?"

"That was me after Cy-"

"That's ok. I'm just trying to figure out who is responsible for what damages." Cyril turned his attention to the corridor after seeing Volteer walk past Spyro's door with Flame in one of his arms. "Great, I'm going to have to clear this up. All of the other dragons are gathered in the foyer, you don't have to come as it will be about Cynder and yourself."

"Wait, before you go, do you know anything about what the power I used was?" Spyro asked quickly, stopping the ice guardian from anything.

"Sound itself is a variation of-" There was another loud crash from the corridor. "I will tell you about it later, Volteer knows more than I do about it so you can ask him, but for now I am needed to settle a few issues. Cyril once more headed out Spyro's door, this time turning around to face the purple dragon, who had immediately turned back to Cynder, nuzzling against her. "Spyro." The ice guardian said once more, once again receiving no response. "Spyro! This is important!" The purple dragon simply turned his head around to look at the ice guardian. "Ember is still out there. And if we don't send word to you that she's here in about thirty minutes, I want you to go out and find her regardless of what objections you may have. Ember is one of us and we need her much like how much we all need each other."

Spyro nodded, if not only slightly. But the moment Cyril left his sight the purple dragon turned his attention back to Cynder, who had been unusually quiet the whole time the ice guardian was there.

"Put me down!" Flame shouted as he struggled against the electric restraints Volteer had put on him. "Let me go and I'll find Ember!" The crimson dragon tried to break out of his bonds once more, but failed miserably as he was carted into the main foyer.

"Flame, if I let you go, you will fly out of this temple faster than any of us ever could. But whether or not it will be to find Ember is a different question."

"Let me go and I'll prove it! I have to talk to her"

"You're not going anywhere until some form of punishment has been set for the damages you have caused to your room." Just as Volteer and Flame entered the main foyer, every single dragon looked at the crimson dragon.

"That will do!" Terrador shouted over the gathered dragon populace. The earth guardian then moved towards Volteer who placed Flame on his back beside him.

"What was that about?" Volteer whispered towards Terrador.

"That just proved who broke down Spyro's door." Terrador answered back, watching as Cyril came into view.

"Spyro and Cynder are both aware of what has happened and I have told them to search for Ember if nothing has been told to them within half an hour." The ice guardian paused for a moment. Now was the time when Ignitus would usually step in and take control of hat would happen and who would have to control what. Unfortunately for Cyril, all of the decisions were up to him now. "Alright, did we find out who broke down Spyro's door?"

"All of the dragoness' who were there said that Flame did so."

"Very well," Cyril took a heavy sigh and moved towards the front of the group. "Thank you for your co-operation, even to those who weren't involved." Cyril gave a quick glance towards Jolt and Singe who, much like Spyro and Cynder, weren't paying much attention. "You are all free to go back about yourselves, but I now hereby set the following standards for immediate effect! One, you must respect each other's choices, regardless of your opinion. If you have a problem, talk to us, don't fight each other. Two, everyone's room belongs to you, and you only. Only under certain circumstances will two dragons be able to share a room, but that must be talked through with us before any arrangements are set. If you have any concerns about these rules at least one of us are around the temple at all times."

The gathered crowd started murmuring amongst themselves, the most notable word that was overheard by Cyril was 'Spyro' but the message soon got across that he was no longer available. "Silence!" Terrador shouted over the crowd once more, giving a quick nod towards Cyril who looked back across the group to continue.

* * *

_I have to… Keep… Going!_ Ember was shouting inwardly at herself as each step became slightly more and more agonising. The pink dragoness had covered just over half of the distance to the temple since she had started her pain filled journey over an hour ago. Each half step hovered closer to the ground as Ember went on, until her forepaws just dragged along the soft grass underfoot. More than once did Ember feel the urge to jus collapse on the cooling lush green, but a large part of her mind forced the pink dragoness onwards. The part that wished for Flame to be beside her.

The dragon temple was just within sight amongst the slight breaks in the forest which urged the injured dragoness onwards despite anything her body said. _I hope he won't ignore me. Please Flame, just once listen to me._

Ember shuffled on slowly, one half step at a time, closer towards the dragon temple. With nothing but herself to talk to, the pink dragoness thought that she should plan what to say before she arrived.

* * *

"Do you know how much damage you have caused Flame? You have broken two doors, a bookcase and a bed! All four of those items had been inside this temple since the day it was completed countless centuries ago! What drove you to act this way is beyond me but there are no excuses." Cyril paced back and forth before Flame, who had both Volteer and Terrador standing behind him as the crimson dragon had been released from his electric bonds. "I don't think that anything this serious has happened before, and it leaves me to wonder on how I will act upon it."

_I don't have time for this! Ember is still out there and they won't let me find her!_ Flame turned away from the ice guardian to glance out a window. _I have to find her!_

"Flame! Are you even listening to me?"

"Yes, I am! I just… It's n-"

"You what? Couldn't control yourself? Lost all reason to think?"

"I have to find Ember!" Flame quickly answered, readying his stance for what would be a quick getaway.

"And why would we let you go out and talk to the one you abandoned out there in the first place?" Cyril asked quickly.

"I made a mistake, this all could've been avoided if only I had listened to her!"

"Then why didn't you listen to her in the first place?"

"Because… I-I… I don't know, I wasn't thinking."

"So you thought that you'd destroy this place instead?" Cyril spoke harshly, noticing Flame's constant views of the open window.

"No, it's not that… I just-"

"Stop." Cyril said quickly, cutting off the crimson dragon. "Flame, just stop. Ember is still out there, and you happen to be the only one who knows where she is, who is willing to find her. Now, as far as your punishment goes, it will have to wait for a later time so I can come to terms with what has happened and what sounds reasonable."

"So you mean to say th-"

"You are free to go for now, but you must find Ember. Either one of Volteer or Terrador will be watching, so don't try and use this time to escape your punishment." Cyril spoke calmly in his normal voice. "Leave now, I will call you when I have made up my mind." The crimson dragon wasted no time. He immediately leapt from the floor and headed outside through the open window. Both Volteer and Terrador soon stood up and headed towards the stairs that led to the roof, both dragons being too big to fit through the window. "Terrador, Volteer. Where are you going?"

"To somewhere we can watch Flame, you said so yourself that he might use this time to try and escape whatever punishment you may be able to come up with." Volteer answered towards the head guardian.

"Leave him be, Flame won't try to escape. His conscience would get the better of him. He is a wild dragon sometimes, yes, but I can tell when he means right and wrong."

"So you trust what he said?" Terrador asked in response.

"Entirely."

* * *

The pink dragoness found a very shallow stream in a gully along her way towards the dragon temple. The third quarter of Ember's painful journey had just begun, but the young dragoness decided to take a rest from the constant travelling and agony that came with it. The cool water that rushed over Ember's aching paws gave them a numbed feeling, but it helped to hide what pain she felt.

Despite the fact that it was the season of ice, Avalar had seen very little, to no snowfall. Along with that, the temperatures had been of an unusual high, causing most plant life to flourish at an early rate. But thankfully, Ember thought, it was better off that way, for it did follow routine with snowfall and ice the pink dragoness' survival would have been highly doubtful.

Ember dipped the bottom of her jaw under water and took a large draught from the stream, promptly followed by a slight shiver as the remaining droplets rolled down the underside of her neck.

The pink dragoness slowly turned back towards where the temple was, and started the slow climb over the ridge. Upon reaching the top, the tip of the dragon temple came into view. _I'm almost there… I just have to keep going. I hope tha-_.

Ember found herself lost as she saw a dragon fly overhead, but as to what colour it was, she couldn't tell. The sun was placed directly behind the flying dragon, making anything but a silhouette.

"Ember!" Was shouted from the overhead dragon. "I thought that I'd lost you!" The pink dragoness tried to shield her eyes from the sunlight with one of her wings, cutting out most of the unwanted light, but it was then she could tell who had come for her.

"Flame?"

The crimson dragon landed before Ember with a slight thud, only further implying how quickly he was travelling. "Ember, I'm sorry for leaving you out here and I should've known that you wouldn't attack me on purpose."

"Flame I-"

"No, it was my fault. I should've listened to you." The male dragon continued, stopping Ember from making any form of communication. "I didn't mean for what happened this morning to…… I wanted to tell you but I- I- I couldn't!"

"Flame, please liste-"

"No, you don't have to say anything. Everyone's worried sick about you back in the temple. But I didn't mean for anything like this happen. When we get back, can we just forget that anything happened out here? This is something I would rather not have to remember." The crimson dragon walked passed Ember, his head hanging low and tail brushing against the ground. The pink dragoness simply put one of her forepaws forward and stepped on Flame's slacking tail. There was another slight yelp as Flame felt his tail almost being pulled at just by his walking. "What did you do that for?" He asked with a large amount of frustration.

"Because you won't listen to me." Ember calmly answered, driving Flame into confusion. "Flame, I tried to tell you before you left this morning, and I've been trying to tell you now."

"Ember, I know. You don't want anything to do with me when we get back to the temple. Look, you don't know how hard this is for me so can we please go now?"

"Flame, you're not listening again!" Ember took several paces closer to the red dragon. "But you don't understand what I'm trying to tell you." The pink dragoness continued to inch closer Flame, leaving their noses less than a few inches apart. "I love you."

Flame immediately shot away from her. "And you expect me to believe you this time? I remember last time you said that I ended up being the pity of the entire temple! Or at least the part of it that wasn't obsessed with Spyro!" The crimson dragon turned away from Ember.

"But Flame! I do mean it!"

The male dragon only scoffed. "I remember when you said that last time too. Or was it the time before? Ember, I don't know what you have planned with this, but I don't believe you."

"Then believe this!" Ember moved as quickly as she could towards Flame, who was still facing towards the dragon temple. The pink dragoness summoned all of her strength and collided with the male dragon, setting him off balance to fall onto his side. Flame was completely caught off guard by Ember's sudden attack on him, but before he could react he found her lying on top of him.

"Ember! What are you doing?" Flame shouted out, struggling against Ember's weight as much as he could, but to no avail as Ember had managed to find enough power to keep him at bay.

"I'm proving to you that I'm serious!"

"Really? Because it looks like you want to-"

Flame's voice was cut off as he found Ember's maw pressed against his. After a few seconds of contact, Ember pulled herself away from Flame and moved back onto the grass, allowing for the male dragon to find his feet once more. "Flame, I truly mean it this time. But… Do you believe me now?"

The crimson dragon slowly made it to his feet again, he couldn't believe it. Ember, the dragoness he had been chasing since during the war, had finally found feelings for him. Flame nodded slightly, still unsure if the kiss had actually happened.

As Ember angled towards the dragon temple once more, Flame slowly made his way to her side, leaving about a foot gap between them. The pink dragoness quickly removed their distance, and wrapped her tail around Flame's.

_This can't be happening!_ Flame was shouting inwardly at himself. _I can't believe it!_ The male dragon gave a quick glance to Ember who was smiling sweetly towards him. _It's true, she does love me!_ Flame quickly averted his gaze from Ember to the dragon temple before them, he tried to take a step forward, but Ember held firm.

"What's the hurry? Can't we spend what time we have together?" Ember then sat down on her haunches, releasing Flame's tail in the process.

The crimson dragon immediately sat down beside her, she was right, they were alone out there. Nothing could go wrong.


	13. Argument and Agreement

**Chapter 13:** **Argument and Agreement**

The afternoon sun shone brightly overhead for Flame and Ember. They both sat on their haunches against each other. Ember never took her eyes off Flame, it was as if all she wanted was to stare at him for the rest of her days. The pink dragoness leant against Flame almost dependently, trying to keep most of her weight off her still injured form.

Flame on the other hand had lost himself completely. Over the hours the two had spent together over yesterday and that morning, Ember's thoughts towards, and about, him were completely anew. It was as if Ember had become a different dragon. But that was to Flame's advantage.

His entire outlook on the world had changed completely. The male dragon thought that he had something to live for again, that his life was worth something more than to be another name carved into the wall of survivors against Malefor. But Flame felt something deep inside himself that had never surfaced before, the feeling of being wanted.

Ember was much the same. Although she always knew that Flame liked her, she had no idea how far he was willing to go just to try and make her happy. She had said before that she would've liked nothing more than for him to leave her alone. And the male dragon was willing to do that, just for her. Ember twitched her tail, feeling it within the firm grip of Flame's. She smiled inwardly at herself, realising that what she had bee seeking all along, was right before her.

Flame glanced down at Ember, immediately gazing into her eyes. _Ancestors, how could I have almost lost her?_ The male dragon thought to himself. It then dawned on him though. _I shouldn't just sit here, the guardians would think that I've left, and aren't coming back…_ Flame slowly pressed back against Ember with his wing, forcing her back into a self supporting position. "We shouldn't be out here, the guardians will come looking for us eventually."

Ember sighed and cringed slightly as the pressure on her own limbs reached her mind. "Didn't you tell them that you came for me?"

"I did, but Cyril said that he would have either Volteer or Terrador to watch where I went, and if it looked like I was running away, they would come after me, or worse."

"What do you mean 'or worse'? You are here, with me. You have done nothing wrong." Ember lowered herself to lay on the grass, almost subconsciously objecting to the idea of going back.

"I know, but I don't want to be in any more trouble than I am." Flame moved to in-front of Ember. "Could you sit up for me again?" Flame asked, receiving a confused look from Ember.

"Why do you want me to do that?" The pink dragoness asked almost immediately in reply.

"Just, trust me for a moment. Ok?"

Ember then tilted her head to the other side. _Why would he want me to do that?_ The pink dragoness took a deep breath again, and pressed against her forepaws, forcing herself back up into a sitting position. "Why did you want me to-" Ember started to ask, but then noticed Flame lower his head to look even more intently at her body. "What are you doing?" Ember shot out, slightly annoyed by Flame ogling over her. The pink dragoness immediately lowering herself against the ground once more, it hurt her slightly, but it immediately stopped Flame from staring.

"Ember, why did you do that?" It was obvious that the male dragon hadn't heard anything that Ember had said at the time he was staring at her.

"Why were you staring at me?" She asked with a hint of venom.

"I was seeing if you were hurt anywhere around your forelegs."

Again, Ember tilted her head. "Why would you want to check that?"

"So I could see if I would be able to carry you back to the temple instead of walking."

_Wait, did he just say carry me?_ Ember asked herself, not believing what she thought Flame said. Ember again tried to remember what Flame had said, but nothing came through. She just store blankly back at the male before her.

"Ember?" Flame asked, wondering if he had said anything wrong.

Ember then panicked. She quickly tied to come up with an answer that would cover a broad number of questions. "But… How?"

Flame then paused for a moment. "Ok, then I'll show you. Just, could you sit up again?" Ember did as he asked, and followed him with her eyes as Flame walked behind her. "If you look at me I won't be able to hold you properly."

_What did he just say?_ Ember immediately thought to herself. _Surely he couldn't have said… _Ember looked straight forward, wondering what Flame was trying to do. She sat still for a moment, thinking about what might come from her stupidity. _I should've just asked him to say it again._ It was then that Ember felt Flame's chest against her back. It was warm, almost to an unnatural temperature. Ember increased the force on her forelegs, putting more pressure against the male dragon.

"That helps, a little." Flame commented as he felt Ember's force against him. "Can you hold that for a moment?"

"Y-yeah… Sure…" Ember replied confused about what Flame was trying to do. Ember flicked her tail to one side, immediately running into one of Flame's hind legs. _What is he doing?_ Ember then flicked her tail to the other side, once more, feeling Flame. She then started to panic. _I'm not ready for this! Please ancestors tell me that he's not trying to-_ Ember then felt Flame's forelegs wrap underneath her own and pull his entire body closer to hers. For some reason to Ember, having Flame pressed against her like that felt right, like he was just an attachment to herself. But Ember felt that the time wasn't right, that Flame had something else in mind.

"See? I could easily move my-"

"Stop!" Ember shouted, breaking all contact with Flame and jumping several feet away, causing the male dragon to fall against the ground, crashing face first in the grass.

Flame picked himself up from the ground, slightly annoyed with Ember's sudden actions. "Ember? What did you do that for? I was only showing you how I would-"

"I didn't ask you to show me how we could mate!"

Flame stopped completely. Lost be what Ember had just shouted at him. "W-w… What?"

"I said that-"

"I know what you said Ember, but I didn't say anything about mating. I was showing you how I would carry you back to the temple instead of walking!"

Ember froze. She was completely embarrassed by what she had said, and what Flame had meant by his actions. If she hadn't have been a pink dragoness, she definitely would've in that moment. But what was worse, she didn't even know how to answer what Flame had said. Then another thought struck. If she couldn't trust Flame now, what chance was there of her trusting him in the future? "I-I…" The pink dragoness was completely lost for words. "I- Flame… I'm-"

"I knew it! I knew this was never going to happen." The male dragon looked at Ember for a brief moment, then turned away. "See? This is what happens when I believe you. You tell me everything that I had wanted to hear for nothing more than half an hour, then you just stab me in the back. It happened a week ago, it happened this morning, and now it's happening again!"

"No, Flame. That's not what I mea-"

"Oh no, of course not… Ember said something she didn't mean… Ancestors forbid that Ember actually says something she means."

"Flame, please… I didn't mean it."

"And you didn't mean it this morning either… Hmm? What about last week, did you not mean it then too?" Flame looked back at Ember with anger in his eyes. "Have you said anything, and meant it in your entire life?"

Ember stopped and lay against the ground. It was that morning all over again. She did something that she didn't mean, and Flame took it as an attack against him. Ember thought that her short time of happiness was over, that the few minutes she had spent with Flame feeling like he was the one was all for nothing. The pink dragoness felt like her entire world had fallen down around her, like everything was a complete wreck. She pressed herself against the ground, laying as flat as possible, avoiding any eye contact with the male dragon standing over her.

Flame only turned around, not wanting to see Ember like she was. It truly was a hard sight to behold. _What's wrong with her now?_ Flame thought to himself. _Did she actually mean what she said?_ It was then that he started to second guess his actions. Flame glanced back at Ember once more, finding that she was sobbing worse than he had ever seen her. _What have I done?_ The male dragon turned himself around to face Ember, and padded closer to her side. "Ember?" Flame spoke softly. "Ember please, I didn't know."

The pink dragoness remained silent, ignoring any of Flame's actions while she continued to feel tears slide down the side of her face.

Flame was lost this time, his mind was losing its subtlety. The male dragon sat on the grass beside Ember and slowly ran one of his paws against her side. "Ember, don't do this… I- I- I-"

"Save it." Ember answered back, lifting her head off the grass and turning to face Flame. "Flame, I told you how I felt less than an hour ago, and already you don't believe me." The pink dragoness stated solemnly. "I meant every word of what I told you, but you still can't understand what you now mean to me. And if you can't understand that now, then what will become of us in the future?"

"Ember, I'm sorry… But I never even thought about what I was doing, and what it could've been." The male dragon stopped all movements and stared at Ember.

"Flame, what you did just then hurt more than you could imagine. I- I thought that I had lost you…"

"Ember, don't say that. I didn't mean to hurt you, but I'm not used to this…"

"It's not a matter of getting used to Flame. If you truly want us to be like that then you shouldn't have to know what to think. You already should."

Flame quickly jumped to his feet, he too then thought that his dream was going to be shattered. "Ember, I'm sorry… Please, is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

"Flame, what we had broke in less than an hour, and if we can't go that long without a fight like this, then I don't know what will happen." Ember stopped and moved into a seating position like she was before. "Flame, I told you how I feel and what I want. But if you can't trust me, then I don't know what's going to happen. As for now, I want to know that I can trust you again."

Flame then stepped back towards Ember, standing front on towards her. "I'm sorry Ember. Please" Ember looked towards the ground, away from where Flame was standing before her. "I love you."

Those three small words rung throughout Ember's mind, it was then that she remembered how Flame felt when she first said them to him earlier that day. There was a sense of compassion held within the crimson dragon's voice as he said it. _He truly meant it._ Ember thought to herself. It was then that she picked up her head and looked straight towards Flame. "I forgive you Flame, but you have to trust me much like I need to trust you." The pink dragoness paused for a moment as Flame had stepped forward and stared rubbing his neck against hers. "And if you want to avoid the guardians, we had better get going."

Flame immediately took a quick step back, wondering how he should go about asking his first question again. "How do you want to get there?" _Idiot._

"I don't think that I could walk that far, so I guess that you'll have to carry me." Ember replied, again with a fair amount of embarrassment.

"Do you trust me?"

"I don't have a choice."

* * *

Spyro and Cynder were walking through one of the dragon temple's countless corridors, tails entwined. The two dragons passed many others on their way to the main foyer. Needless to say that many strange looks were given to the couple, but that didn't mean that Spyro or Cynder didn't either ignore them, or just not notice at all.

Spyro spent most of his attention on Cynder, while what remained of the male dragon's conscious worried about not walking into a wall. But thankfully enough for Spyro, Cynder kept them on a straight path, until the black dragoness turned a corner and found Sparx.

Both Spyro and Cynder froze, from their last encounter together not even Spyro could guess as to how his half brother would react. Cynder wanted to try and ease any hostilities he believed she held towards him, but Cynder would leave most, if not all, of the talking this time to Spyro.

"Uhh, Sparx… Hey! You wouldn't happen to know what happened to Flame would you?" Spyro quickly tried to get the attention off both Cynder and himself.

"Nope, but I did however hear about you and 'ol terror over there," Cynder immediately tightened her grip on Spyro's tail, much to his discomfort. "But, could I speak with you for a minute? Alone." The small dragonfly put much emphasis on the final word.

Spyro was almost amazed by how calm his half brother was with Cynder so close. Although the purple dragon knew that Cynder wasn't going to do anything aggressive towards Sparx, that didn't mean she wouldn't cause him any form of discomfort. "Umm, sure…" Spyro glanced towards Cynder who was clearly trying her best to restrain any form of action. "Cynder, would you mind if you…" Spyro glanced back at their tails, which Cynder immediately released upon Spyro's request. The purple dragon leant in closer to Cynder. "I'll try to get him to understand." He whispered to Cynder, receiving a short nod in the process.

"C'mon I don't have all day." Sparx commented in a rather sarcastic way since no-one in the entire temple had anything to do beside the guardians.

Spyro immediately turned around to face his much smaller brother, flicking the edge of his tail back towards Cynder, gently tapping the tip of her nose in the process. The purple dragon took several steps down the corridor and turned the corner, with Sparx hanging on to one of his horns in the process.

"Have you lost your mind? Again!" The seemingly paranoid dragonfly flew off from Spyro's head and stood on the edge of his nose staring into the dragon's amethyst eyes. "You didn't see what the guardians did to everyone else did you?"

"No, but what-"

"They put everyone in the foyer and caused the biggest scene, just because of you two!"

"Sparx, do you have a point?"

"I was getting to that!" The small dragonfly shot back quickly. "The point is that because of you two everyone else has stopped coming to me. And I 'outta thank you for it."

That last comment took Spyro completely off guard. "What?"

"Because of you and psycho over there I am now able to do whatever I want and never get interrupted anymore. Because all the crazies were chasing you, all I ended up doing was heal this, and fix that… Now that you've finally chosen one of them, I get the rest of my days off!"

"So you don't have anything against us being together?" Spyro was still completely lost by his half-brothers words.

"Everyone else in here does…"

"Sparx!"

"Alright, alright. Calm down there big guy… As for you two being together, I have more good reasons than bad. But I want to know that she won't lash out at me like yesterday."

"Sparx, Cynder didn't lash out at you yesterday-"

"And you two weren't getting it on twenty minutes ago." That last bit silenced Spyro completely. "Ok, that was a bit much…" Sparx stretched out his arms and lay down on Spyro's snout. "Tell you what, get her to apologise for yesterday and maybe it will change my mind about her… As much as I hate to admit it, I can't live without you sometimes, but if you're going to be with… Her… The rest of your life, it's the least I can try."

Spyro raised an eye ridge at his brother, he knew that his half brother didn't like the idea of him being with Cynder. But he also knew that Sparx wasn't one to welcome change that much, so what he did offer was definitely in Spyro's favour. "Ok, but you have to stop with the names. This will be hard enough on her without you calling her 'evil'."

"Right then, she gives an apology, and I'll stop with the name calling."

"Deal." Cynder spoke up from the around the corner. The black dragoness had heard the entire conversation between the two brothers. She understood what had to be said, but it would be worth it in the end. For if Spyro couldn't speak with his brother without him being scared to death each time, Cynder knew that Spyro wouldn't be happy. Cynder stepped out from behind Spyro and looked at Sparx who had shot up from his position on Spyro's nose.

"This isn't going to help you know…" Sparx put a little more distance between Cynder and himself.

"Sparx, relax. Cynder understands what you said and agrees completely to it. I heard it, you heard it, and she heard it." Spyro tried to ease his brother's tensions.

"Yeah, yeah… I know what I said, but it doesn't help when she's eavesdropping on us."

"I'm sorry Sparx, I didn't mean to scare you yesterday morning, al I wanted to do was thank you for-"

"Ok, ok… That's enough, you don't have to tell me everything… I was there remember?" Sparx paused for a moment. "Actually, I should thank you for finally getting chick magnet over there to pick someone… It was driving me insane."

"Well, I don't think you quite understand how hard it was on me too Sparx."

"Yeah, sure… It was hard on you… It's really hard for someone to stand there and have almost the entire world stare at your every move, while stabbing each other in the back after you turned every corner…" The golden dragonfly turned around and started flying back down the way he had come before. "I wish I could go through all of that-" Sparx was gone.

"I think that went well…" Spyro said softly to Cynder, who just stood still, dumbfounded at how weird Sparx truly was. "I think he likes you on the inside."

The black dragoness gave a confused look. "And how would you know that?"

"If you live with someone like that for over five years, you pick these things up." Spyro turned around with Cynder and immediately locked his tail with hers again.

"Are you sure he's alright with us?"

"Even if he isn't, I still love you all the same."


	14. Couple Talk

**Chapter 14:** **Couple Talk**

Spyro and Cynder continued slowly through the endless hallways and corridors of the dragon temple, as if trying to show each other off to the rest of the world. Evil looks were the usual response towards Cynder, but envy was almost constant throughout the entire journey. All dragonesses wished to be Cynder, whereas the few other males praised Spyro to no end. For although the news was hard to admit for many of the dragons, many dragonesses figured that their second choice happened to be the only other one they would get.

As the couple continued on their way through the main foyer towards the gardens, the two wondered when the truth would set in, but Spyro and Cynder couldn't help but watch. One singular male dragon moved towards a group of dragonesses. From Spyro's point of view, the dark emerald dragon looked like he had tried to make himself look nicer than all the others.

After a few minutes of talking amongst themselves, the emerald dragon tried himself towards an ice blue dragoness, which caused her to stop completely. She took a quick glance towards her friends, who all had mixed emotions over everything, but in the end, the green dragon strolled away, with the blue dragoness by his side.

"I guess that some understand faster than others." Spyro observed.

"It doesn't bother me either way… I have the male I wanted, and that's all that matters." Cynder moved herself closer to Spyro once more, tightening the grip she held his tail in. "But it is nice to see that we're not going to be the only 'couple' within the temple."

Spyro immediately tried to start walking again, forcing Cynder along with him. "You don't have to say it like that…" He rushed out.

Cynder increased her walking pace to move before Spyro. "What's the rush Spyro? We have the rest of our lives together."

"Y-yes… I know that, but we only have about five minutes until sunset."

"I don't care about that, it happens virtually twice every day. But what we have is only once a day… And I don't want to waste a minute without you." Cynder placed one of her forepaws onto Spyro's. "I don't care about anything but you."

"But I want things to be perfect, will you at least allow me that?" Spyro asked in reply. "I don't want it to happen every day, but, just this once."

"Ok, just this once." Cynder removed her paw from on Spyro's and proceeded forward beside the purple dragon.

As if on cue, the pair stepped outside into the temple garden and sat themselves against each other on the highest ridge within the temple grounds. Just as the tip of the sun skimmed the horizon and started falling behind the few trees that over-stood the rest of the forest.

Spyro couldn't help but smile inwardly at himself. It was as if his one and only dream had come true, again. The tranquillity of the garden, along with the unmentionable warmth that radiated from both Cynder and the sun was almost worth the fourteen years of fighting against Malefor and his forces. Everything that he had worked for over those years, paid off to him again. The purple dragon looked towards his would be mate, her green eyes were staring lovingly back towards him, this was yet another moment that the purple dragon wanted to live forever.

"Spyro?" Cynder whispered out after resting her head against the purple dragon's shoulder.

"Yes Cynder?"

"I've been thinking, but I don't quite know how to put it…" Cynder stayed her position against Spyro, who only leant against Cynder with the rest of his form, laying his head on her opposite shoulder.

"What is it Cynder?"

"It's just… I've been thinking about us… And what it would be like to, you know…" Cynder turned her eyes towards Spyro. "What it would be like for us to mate."

Spyro took a deep breath, as if he had prepared for a comment like this to be spoken, it wasn't something he feared, but Spyro himself was curious. Although his teachings with Ignitus were fairly thorough, as with everything the fire guardian did, but there were still questions that bugged the purple dragon's mind. "I don't know Cynder," Spyro answered honestly. "There is much that I don't know about it, but-"

"It's not how Spyro, but what. What would it mean between us? What if something happens? What if I am to fall gravid?" Cynder wrapped one of her forepaws around Spyro's. "What if something goes wrong?"

"Cynder, I won't let anything happen to you."

"I know, but… You can't be there forever, what if it's not you… I know that you won't let anything bad happen, but-"

"No buts Cynder. I will always be there for you. That's what part of being mates together is about." Spyro lifted his head from Cynder's shoulder. "Never to leave each other's side." The purple dragon sighed once more. "Cynder, I have to be honest with you."

The black dragoness pulled away from Spyro slightly. "W-what is it?"

"Cynder, you know that I would never do anything to hurt you, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Just, can you answer the question Cynder…" Spyro continued quietly.

"You would never do anything to hurt me, you wouldn't…"

"I know, but, I was told then when a couple first mates together, it is more painful than anything for the female." Spyro turned to face Cynder once more. "So, regardless of what I say about never hurting you, if we wish to-"

"I- I understand Spyro… I know myself well enough that after seeing… You… That not everything would go as I had imagined." Cynder looked straight into Spyro's amethyst eyes. "I know that you would never do anything wrong if you could Spyro, but this is something I am willing to go through for us."

"I don't want to force you-"

"But you won't. I do, someday, wish to be a mother… And I want to do that beside you, with you. I love you Spyro, and nothing can change that."

The black dragoness' last few words settled Spyro's nerves. Cynder always seemed to have that power over him, and as Spyro's body visibly relaxed she believed that the subject was over. Cynder leant in closer to Spyro as he did back towards her. The couple's lips connected briefly for a moment only to break away quickly as the two heard footsteps behind them.

"You two have caused quite the trouble today." Spyro and Cynder immediately turned around upon hearing Cyril's voice, separating slightly if only from habit. "But through all the problems you have caused, many more have been solved today."

"What are you talking about?" Spyro quickly asked.

"Oh, hasn't Sparx found you two yet?"

"Actually, we found him." Cynder answered. "And Spyro believes that he doesn't have anything against us, which is all I could've hoped for." The black dragoness inched back towards Spyro again.

"Yes, quite. Now tell me. Have either of you two seen Ember or Flame arrive back yet?"

"I thought he was with you… But that means Ember's still out there, I forgot to-!" Spyro immediately shot to his feet and flared out his wings.

"Relax Spyro, I figured that something like this would happen." The purple dragon sat back down and wrapped one of his opened wings around Cynder. "As far as I know, Flame is out there with Ember. But he was due to arrive back about an hour ago, unless Ember was further away from the temple than I figured."

"If they're walking then they won't be back until tomorrow because Ember wouldn't be able to walk on her forelegs." Cynder once more answered, using one of her forepaws to pull Spyro's wing further around herself.

"But if Flame is out there, I don't think he would let anything else happen." Spyro continued.

"I tried to set Flame a limit on time, so he would try to hurry as much as he can, but if you see any sign of him, let me know immediately." Cyril turned around and started on his way back to the temple.

"Cyril, wait." The ice guardian twisted his neck back to look at Spyro. "What is to happen with Flame, I heard that it was him who broke down my-"

"Nothing. Since times have changed, my role as a guardian changed with them. Before I was the teacher of wisdom and tactics, but now, all that is required is supervision. Flame will have enough on his hands trying to live with Ember without me adding to his burdens. But speaking of his actions, Spyro, unless you want to stay in a room with no privacy, I suggest you stay with Cynder from now. Volteer Terrador and I have spoken about this, and we believe that you two can stay together, even though you did so last night behind our backs." The ice guardian looked back towards the temple once more. "Goodnight Spyro, Cynder. I will see you two again tomorrow just to follow up, making sure that our choices were correct."

And so both Spyro and Cynder were alone once more. The sun had half disappeared behind the horizon as Spyro and Cynder turned back around to feel the remnants of it's warmth on their chests. The air temperature was dropping quite rapidly, but the warmth generated between Spyro and Cynder along with the dying sunlight kept them more than comfortable for the time.

"So, where were we?" Cynder asked quietly.

"I can't remember" Spyro answered back after a few moments of silence. "But I don't care either." The purple dragon tightened the grip he held around Cynder's form. "As long as you're here." Cynder gave a light laugh at Spyro's words. "What?"

"Nothing…" She answered quickly. "It's just, you said that last time."

"That doesn't make it any less true…"

The rest of the afternoon for the dragon couple was exactly how Spyro had imagined it, they sat against each other until the very tip of the sun's light had retired into its daily slumber, and so, Spyro and Cynder followed.

The walk back to the temple was slow, both dragons wanting to spend as much time as they could together. Although after receiving word from Cyril that they were allowed to sleep together was good news nonetheless, Spyro wasn't going to spend his time in a room with no door regardless of what anyone thought.

The temple was deathly silent as only the repeated clicks of Spyro and Cynder's talons against the hard stone floor. Although the two were walking incredibly slowly, there was no way to stop the echoing sounds.

Upon reaching the hallway where the dragons lived, it too was dead. No sign of life was within sight which, along with the dim light, giving the entire curving hallway an eerie appearance.

"Why did you have to pick the room furthest away?" Spyro whispered in question, only receiving a dumb look from Cynder, as if he already knew the answer.

"Would you rather stay in your room tonight?" Cynder answered, only to have silence in response. "That's what I thought, because you are in no position to complain about my room."

"I thought it was going to be 'our' room from now on…" Spyro once more gained a sly grin.

"While only 'my' things are in there, it will remain 'my' room."

"So does that make me your property?" Cynder gave Spyro a slight nudge from a quick turn of her body, forcing their hips to collide together. Spyro though caught Cynder's tail with his own and wrapped himself around it.

Silence surrounded the two dragons as they continued down towards Cynder's room, but upon arrival, the black dragoness was wary about entering straight away. Although she always kept her room scrupulously clean, Cynder never thought that it was good enough. Yet whenever she entered Spyro's room, it was as if the purple dragon didn't care that his room was a mess and Cynder was to see it, although both times Spyro was in a rush and he had no other option. But that was Spyro.

"Could you, wait here for a moment?" Cynder asked quietly.

"But, why?"

"There are just some, things… I need to fix up." Cynder stood still, watching intently as Spyro thought about it for a moment. Slowly untangling his tail from hers, Spyro allowed for Cynder to enter her room, leaving him alone out in the corridor.

The moment Cynder stepped inside she remembered what changes she had made yesterday. Most of her small items were placed in a small pile against a wall. _That won't do._ The black dragoness quickly picked up each item and re-decorated her room back to the way it was before she had packed everything away.

Spyro stood with one ear pressed against the door. Everything was silent apart from the odd sound of natural clutter. The purple dragon himself had never actually been inside Cynder's room, and so he wondered what she could've been doing. But what he also wondered was if that night was going to be anything like their previous one. After several minutes of the near silent activity, and many muttered words later, Cynder opened her door only just wide enough for Spyro to enter.

As the purple dragon moved inside, he was instantly hit with a wave of Cynder's scent which was the most predominant thing Spyro noticed, aside from the black dragoness herself.

Spyro quickly glanced around the room and noticed how everything held its own place. The gaps in ornaments were few and far spread, leaving Spyro to believe that Cynder was one high on neatness and order, which suddenly put his room to shame. But the purple dragon himself was speechless, both from how Cynder's room appeared, and from what aroma it carried.

Cynder noticed Spyro's non-stop staring, and thought she had done something wrong. "I'm sorry if it's not-"

"You have nothing to apologise for," Spyro interrupted. "T- this is beautiful… But not as beautiful as you."

Cynder once more thanked herself for being a black dragoness, for if she wasn't, Spyro would be able to tell that she was blushing. Despite the fact that Spyro could hold himself calm throughout the whole comment, Cynder couldn't help herself.

The moment the purple male had turned around completely once more to face Cynder, that was when she pressed herself against the purple dragon and walked him to her, or what was soon to be their, bed.


	15. Understanding

**Chapter 15:** **Understanding**

Pain. Pain was the first thing to strike as the male dragon found himself flying through the air, with Ember held tightly within his grasp. The strain on his wings was tremendous, yet Flame knew that he couldn't give in.

Agony. As each beat of his wings drove them further forward, Flame felt as if they were being ripped out of his back, but he would happily go through it all again, if it was for the female he carried.

Happiness. Despite everything the two had gone through, and what he was going through at the moment as they soared over the near black landscape, Flame was happy with how everything had turned out. They fought, they talked, they argued, but most important of all now, they understood.

All three of these emotions continued to plague, and drive him to want more. He wanted to reach the dragon temple before true night fell, he wanted to save Ember from the chilling winds, he wanted to apologise to both Spyro and the guardians for causing the damages he did, but what he wanted most was to be Ember's mate.

Flame found himself cringing after every wing beat, causing him to veer slightly off course from the clearly visible temple before him, but every couple or so strokes, Flame re-adjusted his grip on Ember, and corrected their heading.

The male dragon would've made the flight between the temple and Ember's location easily within just over ten minutes, but with the pink dragoness held firmly against his entire front, it would take double that time, of which he was about half way through.

_Ancestors! This would be so much easier if I didn't-_ Flame shook his head violently, causing the two to change direction dramatically. _No! I must do this! I-_ Flame quickly corrected his bearing and stopped his thoughts as he felt Ember's tail rub against the underside of his own, causing the male dragon to shudder. "Ember… Please…" The crimson dragon losing focus on the task at hand, and slightly loosened the grip his back legs held around Ember's hind section.

"Flame! I'm slipping!" She cried out quickly, spreading out her own wings out of instinct alone.

The male dragon immediately changed his flight path to the ground, allowing himself to tighten his grip around her and change his direction back to where it was, facing the dragon temple. Although this time Flame didn't care about himself, he tightened his grip so that they couldn't be separated. "It's ok Ember." He shouted over the winds. "I won't let go, even if it kills me." Flame tightened his grip across Ember's chest to further his point. "I am not going to drop you."

The pink dragoness tucked her wings back against her sides. _I have to trust him… But I can't do anything that might distract him._ Ember traced circles around a single scale on his forepaw, causing Flame to only tighten his embrace around her, but it was something she wanted. Ember wanted Flame pressed against her like he was. The feeling of closeness was one that the pink dragoness intended on feeling for as long as she could.

As Flame continued onward towards the temple, the final rays of sun glared outward towards him and Ember, while the lights of the temple dimmed along with it. "We'll be at the temple shortly…" Flame spoke softly as Ember made another circle around the same scale on his foreleg. "But I don't think you can be healed until tomorrow."

"I have some life gems in my room…" Ember said softly. "Everyone went searching for them just after Malefor died, and most were used after battles for Spyro. Very few are around the temple now as many continued to fight each other."

"I didn't think that Sparx could heal everyone…" Flame muttered back. "I'll just drop you at your room and see the guardians…"

"No," Ember replied quickly. "I need you to help me get the gems." _But you aren't leaving that room until I say so._ The pink dragoness thought, planning her actions already for when she would be near good health.

"If you say so…" Flame replied. Continuing onwards towards the dragon temple, unaware of Ember's planning.

It took the crimson dragon another ten minutes, but eventually, the pair reached the side of the temple and glided slowly into Ember's room. Flame asked constantly if Ember was fine with him going into her room, and the only answer he received was that she wouldn't get there any other way. Although Flame's immediate thought was that he could land in the main foyer and they could walk there, but in Flame's mind the stairs would've caused too much of a problem. So he shook off the thought completely.

Flame hovered outside Ember's window as he slowly released her from his grasp, allowing the dragoness to land gracefully inside and limped onto her bed as the male dragon entered.

"Top shelf to the right…" Ember immediately spoke, directing her gaze towards one of her bookshelves. Flame immediately stood up on his hind legs and peered up towards where Ember had looked, finding a black bag that was almost packed full.

"Are they in the black bag?" Flame asked quietly, trying his best not to wake any of the other dragons. The crimson male turned back to Ember who nodded slightly, so Flame picked up the bag in his teeth and returned to the dragoness behind him. "How many do you have left?" He asked, remembering how hard the gems were to come by even during the war.

"There should be seven in the bag, but I have one more underneath my bed…" Ember reached forward with a forepaw and reached inside the bag, pulling out a small glowing green gem, clenching it tightly with her other paw.

There was a quick flash as the energy coursed through her body, healing any imperfection that covered her form, allowing the pink dragoness to stand without restriction. Flame closed the bag once more and turned towards the bookshelf where he found it. "Are you feeling better?" The male asked rhetorically, as he saw Ember stretch out her legs.

The pink dragoness gave a short glare to the back of Flame's head, leaving him oblivious to the fact that it happened, but the glare quickly turned to an examination as Ember watched Flame reach back to the top shelf, her eyes darting between the tip of his tail, and the top of his neck. Ember let out a small sigh. _I love him…_ Was all her mind could come up with. The pink dragoness sat on the edge of her bed, continuing to look up and down the male before her.

Flame put down the bag and returned to all fours. "I hope that you don't have to use all of-" Flame paused as he found Ember staring at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ember sighed again. _Doesn't he know?_ The pink dragoness stood slowly and stepped towards Flame, rubbing her entire form against him. "No reason…" She said with a slight smile.

Flame returned Ember's affection and stared into her cyan eyes. "I should be going… The guardians won't-"

"You're not going anywhere…" Ember interrupted, catching the end of his tail with her forepaw. "Not unless I say so anyway…" The pink dragoness pulled herself closer to Flame, and pressed her body entirely against his, almost forcing the male onto his side.

"Ember… What are you doing?" Flame asked, quickly moving himself away from Ember, allowing the male some time to think.

"Stop it Flame…" Ember cooed seductively, flicking a paw out towards the male accompanied by an alluring growl. "I need to… 'Thank' you, for what you have done for me…"

"You don't have to do anything Ember…" Flame stepped back, forcing himself against the door as Ember moved towards him once more.

The pink dragoness put her head beside Flame's and whispered into his ear. "But what if I want to?" Ember locked the door and turned around, wrapping the end of her tail around Flame's horns, pulling him along to join her on the bed.

Flame didn't want to fight against Ember, although how she wanted to thank him was a mystery, the male dragon could only imagine what she planned. But all Flame knew was that it was his dream to be that close to Ember.

The pink dragoness was tired of fighting her urges. Flame had saved her life, and she wanted to repay him. But what drove her even more was that she loved him, and she wanted nothing more than to be his mate. As she lay down in the centre of her bed, Flame stared blankly over her form, admiring every scale, every perfectly shaped curve. The male dragon was lost for words, never before had he seen Ember act this way, but it wasn't something he had a problem with, for the crimson dragon thought, then and there, that she wanted to become mates.

"You don't know how long I've dreamt of this…" Flame whispered out under his breath. "Ember, I-"

"Come closer Flame…" Ember interrupted the male once more. But he didn't seem to notice, stepping closer to Ember, and standing beside her. "Flame, closer…" The male dragon was confused, how much closer could he get to Ember? Flame sat down, "No!" Ember growled back to him. "Closer, like this…" The pink dragoness reached around with her tail to meet Flame's hind legs, pushing them forward, causing the male dragon to stand over her.

"Ember… What are you doing?" Again, Flame asked quietly.

"I love you." Was the only reply. The male dragon was standing completely over the top of Ember before she reached up with her forepaws and connected them behind his back, forcing Flame to lie atop of her. "Make me your own." She whispered into the male's ear, making everything clear to Flame.

The male dragon gave in to his primal urge and pushed his maw firmly against Ember's while he shifted his position slightly, allowing Ember to open herself for him. Flame felt the same feeling in his hind section that came whenever he was near the pink dragoness, but this time he didn't try to hold it back.

Ember pressed harder against Flame as he continued to drive himself closer to her, but that wasn't how the female wanted it. Ember used all of her force to push the male dragon over into his back, and she pounced onto him, continuing their passionate kiss, but that wasn't all Ember had planned.

The female dragon pressed her hind legs against his, forcing her hips to connect with his as she felt his member grow in-between them. Ember rubbed her tail up and down the underside of Flame's as she had done before, but when she reached the very base of his tail, Flame paused for a moment until she stop the contact between them. _That's his weak spot._ Was all Ember thought.

The pink dragoness flicked out her tongue, finding that Flame's was already out, leaving both of the thin bodies to wrap around each other as they continued their passion.

Flame tried to shift his position underneath Ember, but he was locked in place, which caused the male much discomfort as his member was being squashed between them. He let out a slight moan to try and get Ember to stop, but the pink dragoness only pressed harder, creating one of her own.

Flame felt Ember rub her tail across the underside of his own again, causing him to pause from the feeling, but when Flame stopped, Ember moved down his form towards his now pulsing extension.

Ember continued to rub the base of Flame's tail to keep him still, and it worked to no end, allowing her to take in and examine what he was, before she began what her planned action was.

Ember slid the smooth side of a single talon down the crimson dragon's extension, causing him to stir and shudder uncontrollably. The pink dragoness rubbed back up the male's shaft, getting the same response as before. The third time she did caused Flame to have a sharp thrust upward. Another moan came from Flame, this one, of course, was more of pleasure than discomfort. "Do you like that?" Ember asked, getting a small nod along with several delayed movements of his forepaws. The pink dragoness moved both of her forelegs back to the ground, this time wrapping her tongue completely around the purple extension and sliding herself up and down its full length. Again, this was quickly followed by a pleasurable moan, and a quick thrust, causing Ember to further plan what she would do.

Flame was helpless, yet he didn't want it any other way. Ember had taken control of what she had originally planned, which, in Flame's mind, was how it should be, but there was a thought in his mind telling him to take control and dominate over his would-be mate. Although this voice was quickly silenced by the thoughts of pure ecstasy that coursed through his form as Ember rubbed back up his member.

The female dragon felt Flame's tail start to react to hers again, and she quickly found it wrap around her own, pushing the dragoness up towards him like she had done several minutes ago. Flame leaned forward and once more connected their maws, continuing the passionate kiss Ember had broken before.

Ember quickly placed her forelegs on Flame's, but this time held her hind section away from Flame's, as his pulsing member rubbed around the outside of her opening.

The pink dragoness broke their kiss for a moment again. "Are you ready, my love?" Flame opened his mouth to reply, but quickly found Ember's lips pressed against his, and felt her full weight come back down onto him.

The feeling was something that neither dragon had ever dreamt of experiencing. As Ember slowly felt Flame's member press further inside of her, all she could think of was the immense pleasure that flowed through her form. A deep moan escaped her maw into Flame's who continued their passionate kiss.

Ember didn't believe how good it felt, she then wondered why she had fought off Flame the entire time, if this was what he had dreamt of the entire time. And then everything came clear to Ember once more. Although she had thought it through many times over the past few hours, she really did love Flame for who he was.

Ember slowed her decent down Flame's shaft, creating another moment of pure delight for both of them. But as her movements slowed, so did Flame's, and she felt a slight moan from him, and not a moment after it finished, there was the quick thrust upwards from his hind section, and that was when Ember felt that everything was going wrong.

A sharp pain ran up through her back, causing the dragoness to create a loud roar in agony. But as she did, Flame broke their kiss, unable to keep the pink dragoness quiet, but Flame was still feeling pure ecstasy and didn't realise what had happened.

Ember dug her claws into Flame's shoulders, not enough to draw blood, but enough for what would normally get a reaction out of the male, but he was squirming underneath her, not paying attention to anything in the world.

The pink dragoness bared her teeth, panting heavily from the pain that throbbed in sync with the male dragon's member. _How can he not even!-_ Ember stopped her thoughts for a second. _Maybe this is what he went through before…_ Ember glanced back down to the crimson dragon, who still twitched from what she guessed was joy or happiness. _I owe him this…_

Ember righted herself on top of Flame and prepared for what she thought was to come again. _It isn't his fault…_ Ember slowly continued to slide Flame's member deeper inside of her, causing him to stop moving completely, and all Ember could hear was another long moan escaping from the male, but that was when Ember's feeling changed.

No longer was it shearing pain that she felt, but the female then felt like doing exactly what Flame was doing moments before. The muscles in her forelegs twitched, and her tail shook from side to side, now enjoying every moment of their closeness. Flame made another quick thrust into Ember, causing them both to moan in sync together.

As Ember felt her hips press against Flame's, she was then lost on what to do. They were completely together. Ember rubbed her tail up to the base of his, making sure that her assumption was correct. _What do we do now?_ She thought to herself, as the waves of pleasure she once felt slowly drifted away. But Ember knew that what she was doing was right, they were one, and she was whole once more.

Both Ember and Flame lay in silence for a few seconds, or to them what felt like hours, and Ember then heard several noises outside her door, the endless clicking of talons on hard stone causing her to panic. _What if they find me? I will get Flame in more trouble if we're seen like this!_

The pink dragoness pressed up with her hind legs in a quick movement, only to feel the waves of pleasure wash over her once more, which then caused her to sink back down onto the male's member, but as her hips joined back to Flame's he thrust back up into her once more, tripling the pleasure both dragons felt.

Ember then lifted her hind section back off Flame's, both dragons releasing long moans as Flame found feeling again and pulled her back down onto him, connecting their maws in another passionate kiss. Ember pressed up faster than the times before only to be pulled back down by Flame's tail. The pink dragoness heard the male dragon let out another moan, and felt his member inside of her throb more than it had before. But with each pulse from Flame, Ember too found herself reaching a new level of feeling.

Flame fought off Ember's forelegs, allowing him to reach behind her and hold the pink dragoness against himself. Both dragons let out another long moan before there was a knock at the door. Ember immediately froze, breaking their kiss to stare at the door.

"Ember? Are you in there?" It was Cyril. "The other dragon's heard your cry and called me... What's going on?"

Ember pressed against Flame's chest with her forelegs, but the male wouldn't let go, so she lay down against him and stayed still, hoping that they would think that she wasn't there.

Ember watched as the lock on her door held firm as the ice guardian tried to make his way inside. "Ember, unlock this door or I will do it myself." The pink dragoness pushed against Flame's chest once more, trying to break the hold the male dragon had around her upper body.

The pink dragoness watched as her lock turned and clicked open, allowing for the door to swing inward, revealing Ember and Flame, who were now mates, to the world.


	16. True Intentions Kept Secret

**Chapter 16:** **True Intentions Kept Secret**

Everyone was silent, watching as the ice guardian stood before Ember's door. But there was only one question that was on everyone's mind. Who was inside with her? Cyril spoke once more into the door, but the moment that it was opened ajar, a tiny little fireball found its way outside, bouncing off the hard stone frame that held the door.

There was another roar that came from inside the room, quickly followed by another hatchling-size fireball, that once again, bounced off the cold stone and dissipated into nothingness after travelling a few feet.

This visibly disturbed the ice guardian greatly. From what he knew, Ember was inside her room, and the only one accompanying her would be Flame. But why then, would it cause either one of the fire dragons to attack whoever tried to enter? Cyril thought through every possible action. Which quickly threw into doubt the ice dragon's assumptions on Flame's feelings for Ember, but that wasn't the top problem that concerned the ice guardian. As the only sound that had emerged from the room had been a roar of agony, this made things all the more precarious.

Cyril was the only one of the three guardians that were awoken by the younger dragons, which left him to think by himself for a plan. He had to find out what was happening inside the room, but couldn't risk seeing for himself because of the flurry of fireballs that would be sure to follow. It was then that Cyril came up with an idea.

"All of you, wait here. Do not touch Ember's door, and do not try to talk with her." He addressed the gathered crowd who all nodded in unison. Cyril then turned around facing towards the end of the corridor, weaving through the entire dragon populace to reach Cynder's room.

The ice guardian knocked several times on the door, hearing several cluttering noises quickly followed by Cynder who poked her head through the opened doorway. "Cyril… What is it?" The black dragoness asked, completely taken aback by the head guardian's sudden appearance.

"Is Spyro awake?" He asked quickly.

"Yeah… Why?"

"Because something's happening with Ember and I can't find out without being attacked." The ice guardian spoke quickly trying to get across the urgency of the situation.

"Isn't she with Flame?" The ice guardian gave a quick nod. "Then what are you worrying about? But why did you come to us anyway?"

"As much as I trust Flame, I can't ignore my duties to make sure everything is fine. The other dragons heard a roar from her room but can't enter or see inside to know what's going on." Cyril paused for a moment to take a breath. "And I came to you because I need to know something."

"And what would that be?" Cynder asked in return, wanting for Cyril to leave so she could go back to sleep with Spyro, as the lack of sleep from the night before was catching up to her.

"Do you still know your shadow cloak technique?"

"Yeah… Why do you want to know that?"

"So either you, or Spyro, could look through Ember's window to find out what's going on inside there."

Cynder's door opened a bit more, allowing Spyro to stand beside Cynder at the time. "Ok, I'll do it…" Spyro spoke out.

"I'm not too sure on how long it will last." Cynder answered.

"I'll be quick... All I have to do is look through a window, easy." Spyro took a few steps forward past the ice guardian and into the main hallway. "Lay it on me."

Cyril stepped back as Cynder too emerged into the corridor. The black dragonesses scale's visibly darkened from the metallic shine, to completely pitch black. As Cynder opened her maw and stared to exhale, a seeping mist found its way onto Spyro which, upon contact, made the male dragon completely transparent.

After several moments, the purple dragon was not to be seen. "Now Spyro, you have to be quick. I need to know what is ha-" The ice guardian stopped as Cynder's stance changed completely. The female dragon raising her head above the rest of her form and twitching her tail several times. "Spyro! That's enough!"

"What?" He replied innocently.

"Just find out wha-" There was another roar that echoed down the corridor coming from Ember's direction. "Find out what is going on in there!" Cyril had almost completely lost his patience.

"Ok, ok…" Spyro's voice this time coming from behind the ice guardian, causing him to turn around uneasily and give a stern glare towards the window which Spyro immediately leapt through. _Although I have to admit, that was fun._ The purple dragon thought to himself.

Spyro flew around the edge of the temple in a wide ark, eventually finding Ember's room, which he had vowed before never to even look at after one of her attempts at him, but this was different. The purple dragon pulled up as he reached the open window, Ember's head immediately turning around, believing that she heard something, but nothing was seen on her behalf. From Spyro's point of view, it was the complete opposite.

All that the purple dragon could see was Ember lying atop of Flame with their tails locked together and their hips connected. Spyro immediately turned around upon first sight and wedged his eyes shut. He knew exactly what they were doing. Yet he both never wanted to see it, and didn't want to know about it. Mating was something that the purple dragon thought was a purely private affair, and that is how it should stay.

The purple dragon flew blindly for a moment, forcing his mind to forget anything he saw, so the only thing he thought about was Cynder, which immediately eased his mind. Spyro opened his eyes slowly, trying his best not to remember what he saw between Ember and Flame. Of course the purple dragon was happy for both Flame and Ember, he just wished that there was another way of learning that they were finally together.

Upon re-entering the dragon temple, Spyro landed as softly as he could, watching as Cyril paced back and forth while Cynder lay down against one of the walls, trying to find some rest. Spyro cleared his throat, causing Cyril to jump and face him while Cynder suddenly sprung awake.

"Spyro? Tell me what's going on in there." Cyril too several steps towards the window.

"Stop." Spyro said as the ice guardian almost stepped on top of him. "Ember's fine and so is Flame…"

"Then what's happening in there?" There was a moments silence as Spyro looked towards Cynder, but she was oblivious to the attention she was receiving. "Spyro!" Again the ice dragon spoke.

Spyro had a deep sigh. "They're…" Spyro lowered his voice so Cynder couldn't hear him. "Mating."

Cyril shot his head back immediately after Spyro had whispered the answer. But quickly a look of understanding overcame the guardian. "That explains everything then…" Cyril quickly turned around walking straight past Cynder, but paused for a moment on her other side. "Thank you both for your time." After that, the ice guardian disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

Spyro continued to stare lovingly at Cynder, her tail shook from side to side slowly, as if trying to keep feeling in a near dying limb. But Spyro wasn't held in trance by her tail, but on his own accord. He remembered what he said several days ago, about wanting to wait until he was ready to have a hatchling. Cynder agreed with his statement at the time, but now Spyro's mindset had changed. It wasn't that he suddenly wanted a youngling to care for, but he wanted to be able to call Cynder his mate. Ongoing thoughts flowed through his mind. The purple dragon considered asking Cynder if she'd changed her mind, but threw away the idea as it would force her to make a decision, and if she was to say yes, then Spyro would think that it was his choice that influenced her and wouldn't be able to turn back. He was stuck.

Cynder stay against the corridor wall, as if waiting for the still invisible Spyro to do something like he had before, but after a few minutes of waiting Cynder wondered what, or where Spyro was. She hadn't seen their door open, so he was either standing right in-front of her, or had flown outside and entered through the window. Cynder picked herself up from the ground, but thought that she'd make sure he wasn't around already. "Spyro, are you here?"

The purple dragon continued to stare at Cynder, the shade of her scales had returned to normal, allowing the dim light to refract from her scales, lighting every curve along her form. _She's beautiful…_ Was all Spyro could think. But as the black dragoness shrugged and opened her door, Spyro then spoke. "Yes, I'm here…" Spyro said quietly with a fairly depressed tone, causing Cynder to turn around immediately and look towards the voice with confusion.

"Spyro? What's wrong?" Was her natural reaction.

The purple dragon immediately stepped closer to Cynder, nuzzling against her neck in re-assurance. "It's nothing…" He lied.

Cynder could tell that something wasn't right, but it made Cynder think about what could've caused Spyro to change so quickly. The black dragoness stepped back from Spyro's advancement, no matter how nice it felt. "Spyro, I'm serious… What's wrong?"

Spyro took another deep breath. "It's Ember and Flame." He admitted, planning on not revealing what they were doing.

Cynder sat down where she was, leaving the open doorway for Spyro. "What were they doing?"

Spyro took advantage of still being invisible and moved into Cynder's room and lay on her bed. "It was nothing." Spyro said from around the corner, causing Cynder to jump up and stand in the entrance of her room.

"Spyro! What is wrong? You haven't sounded that down before since Ignitus left us…" Cynder paused for a moment, scanning her room for any sign of where Spyro might be. "And stop moving while I can't see you!"

Spyro thought of an idea that might take her mind off what was bothering him. "Ok…" Spyro said from her bed, immediately watching her move towards it, so he stepped to the side and placed his tail in front of Cynder's forelegs, causing her to trip over, landing on the side of her neck. But Spyro planned it so she would fall on the bed.

"Spyro! That's not funny!" The black dragoness heard Spyro snickering from the doorway. "I'll get you back for that when I can see you."

"I know… But until then." Spyro then stepped behind Cynder and blew his ice breath over the back of her neck, sending a shiver down Cynder's spine to the end of her tail, also causing a fine layer of frost to appear along her scales.

Cynder immediately lay down on the bed. "S- Sp- Spyro! T- T- That-t's c- cold!"

"If you say so…" The purple dragon then used a small flame to turn the frost into residue. "Better?"

Cynder rolled onto her side, putting her back against the wall. "Yes, slightly." Cynder quickly looked around the room again, waiting for something else to happen, only to feel Spyro lying at her feet. Cynder immediately pulled the male dragon closer to herself, wrapping one of her wings and both arms around Spyro. "I am never turning you invisible again." Cynder vowed.

Spyro groaned, celebrating in his mind that Cynder had gotten off topic. "Why? It was fun for me. But if Cyril wasn't around then I would've made it more fun for you." Spyro teased, causing Cynder to flick Spyro with her tail, as it was the only part of her body that was guaranteed to hit him. "What was that for?"

"That, was for doing it in the first place. Although I did like it, it wasn't the time… This." Cynder whacked Spyro on the back of his head as it had just started to become visible again. "Is for tripping me." Cynder stretched her neck around so that her head was before Spyro's. "And this…" The black dragoness gave Spyro a light kiss on the cheek and returned to her normal position. "Is just because I love you."

Spyro growled lightly, wishing for more. But then the previous thoughts came back into his mind. Spyro wedged his eyes shut, forcing the thoughts from his mind. He would wait until Cynder asked him, and that was final.

Cynder tightened her hold on Spyro, the purple male easing towards her body as she did so. Cynder knew that Spyro was hiding something, he was never this quiet around her. Especially if she had shown any form of affection towards him. The black dragoness hadn't forgotten, but she would wait for another time. But then that got her to think about what Ember and Flame were doing, and why that had anything to do with how he was acting. If they were fighting did it mean that Ember would go back after Spyro? That was the most liable option as Cyril seemed to leave in such a hurry.

The black dragoness was confused. She didn't know what was to happen with Spyro, but all she wanted to do was get some sleep, as her mind continued to try and create an explanation.


	17. Time to Think

**Chapter 17:** **Time to Think**

Several hours had passed since the entire dragon populace was standing in question all throughout the stretching corridor. The only thing that crossed their mind was what Ember might have been doing. Yet, they couldn't figure out what she was doing, because none were capable of looking through stone, or wood. To the dragons, this annoyed them to no end, but they could still hear slight grunts coming from her room throughout the entire time of waiting. Cyril quickly made himself known to the group, shifting their attention from the sealed doorway towards the head guardian. Although Cyril was naturally put off by the young couple's hasty interactions, there was nothing he could do about it, but wait.

It was obvious to him that Ember hadn't thought through her action. He knew all too well that none of the dragons that lived in the castle were any where near close to taking on such a burden, although there would be quite a bit of time before the dragonet would hatch, Cyril figured that much strain would be put onto the dragons it belonged to, effectively destroying their relationship. And that was something the ice guardian had pledged to himself immediately after he realised it was happening, he wasn't going to allow anything within his power to go wrong.

Although, yes, Ember and Flame had broken a rule, the ice guardian wasn't going to enforce a punishment on them. He would keep everything to himself, for he knew that Terrador would be completely against it, and that Volteer would only want to probe into the young couple's relationship all the more. The ice guardian sighed, looking over the rainbow of dragons seated before him. Countless greens, blues, yellows and reds looked on, almost eager to hear of what their pink counterpart had gotten herself up to. There was no worry or fear for her, but they cared enough to at least pay attention.

But how would the ice guardian word their actions? Cyril wouldn't tell the others that Ember and Flame had mated together, that would've completely destroyed his original idea to keep it between Ember, Flame and himself. Spyro happened to come into the mix, but Cyril figured that he wouldn't even talk to Ember or Flame about it, let alone Cynder. Sure, the purple dragon would know of what they had done, but he would try to keep his behaviour around the two as normal as possible. But on second thoughts, Spyro would want to ignore Ember altogether because of her hostilities towards Cynder. The ice guardian shook his head, emptying his thoughts of what might be to happen between Spyro and Ember.

Cyril looked out into the rainbow once more, already finding the effects of Cynder's choice take more effect, as many of the dragons had a partner to lean against. It was the worst thing that a supervisor against that exact thing would see. Cyril counted how many were still by themselves, managing to keep the number on one of his paws. It wasn't a good sign, and he needed to further his original speech about what would happen between a couple if something happened. It was only now that the guardian realised that the others had turned away, facing Ember's door once more as a faint roar found its way into the corridor. Cyril then realised what was wrong with how Ignitus had explained relationships between the students, he explained both sides of the argument, but levelled off before anything serious might happen. The seriousness of what was happening on the opposite side of Ember's door. It wasn't something Cyril wanted to do, but it was something he had to, re-education.

Cyril cleared his throat, effectively calling the attention back to himself. "Return to your quarters." He said plainly, causing all dragons to glance between each other. "Now!" The ice guardian spoke with a fair amount of force, causing all gathered to say goodbye between themselves, some with a lick on their partner's cheek, others with a sorrowful look between their linked tails as they walked in opposite directions. Cyril had become fairly annoyed at his newfound and apparent duty. He knew that the moment he left the corridor, doors would open, dragons would emerge, and they would disappear into their partner's room with nothing more than a flick of their tail to close the door behind them. His rule was weak, effectively, as by how easily everyone had agreed to his actions, it only further undermined his authority. Normally on an occasion like that, the dragons would argue in response asking for a reason for stay. Something wasn't right for the ice guardian, and it was the dragons around him that caused the problem. He needed to re-order his position, and enforce against everything thrown at them. The guardians had work to do.

Cyril sighed, his previous thought of the dragons leaving their rooms to meet their partners seeming like an all too real situation, so the ice guardian did what he never wanted to do. Permanent supervision would be required if any form of order was to be established. And the only place he was going to find help was from his fellow guardians. Cyril lay down in his position, the ice guardian had placed himself in the direct centre of the curving corridor, allowing him to see from one end to the other. He thought to himself for a moment, he knew that it didn't have to come to this, but something had to be done before any others considered blindly leaping into what could possible be parenthood. It wasn't something the ice guardian wanted for the dragons, and it had to be something that needed to be fixed. Cyril further thought about what needed to be done. The fighting had stopped completely between groups, which he supposed was a plus, but the cost of the fighting would, without control, become a fight between couples over children. It would truly be the worst thing he wanted to face.

So then he thought, Cyril thought about a way to keep them from acting in such ways, yet still allow such freedom between themselves. It was going to be a long night for the guardian, so he wanted to make use of it. His previous speech acknowledging their thoughts and impulses, that was something that he wanted to now change, as by revealing that everything was normal for them to feel that way, he allowed the dragons to think that it would be ok to start mating together. Yes, Cyril would admit that it was a mistake on his behalf, although what shocked him more was that Volteer failed to pick up on any of his words, possibly too busy trying to keep Flame in one place, but that wasn't the problem.

* * *

The ice guardian had thought for hours on what would effectively be his correction speech on what he had said the previous day, it now effectively being tomorrow for the ice guardian as midnight had passed. Cyril's first assumptions on the dragon's behaviour were exactly correct. One by one, each door tried to open at least once, quickly having a small icicle hurled towards it, which shattered on the door immediately causing it to shut. Only three doors hadn't been opened yet, they being Ember's, Cynder's and Flame's. Cyril knew that Spyro and Cynder wouldn't awaken to move into the corridor, they were allowed to sleep together. Spyro was the only dragon that Cyril could trust not to try and have a hatchling, although the ice guardian hated to admit it, it was impossible for them to anyway. He had thought about it many times, but could never come up with the right way to word such bad news. For after Cynder had been possessed by the dark master, certain traits which had controlled her would never change. She would never be able to remove the shackles that were locked around her neck, forelegs and tail. And she would never be able to conceive an egg.

It pained Cyril to think of such problems, he never wanted to tell the black dragoness of her disabilities, no guardian wanted to. Volteer had even gone to great lengths to try and reverse what magic had done to the young dragoness, but it was no use. There was a slight possibility that may be able to reverse the effect Malefor's magic had on Cynder, but the guardians believed that it was too dangerous to attempt, just for one extra dragoness to be able to fall gravid. It was Spyro that held the key to giving Cynder the ability to conceive, but it was through a method which could destroy the entire planet. Cyril then noted to himself that he would have to talk to Volteer and Terrador about it, and to never bring it up again. Some things were better kept secret.

It was a very small chance, but Cyril believed that Flame would try to find him as soon as possible, even if it meant waiting until Ember was asleep and then waking the guardian. Cyril knew Flame too well, for not a moment after the thought cleared from his mind, the crimson dragon slowly emerged from Ember's room, unaware that the ice guardian was watching him. Just as the lock on Ember's door clicked shut, Flame turned around, only to find Cyril standing over the top of him.

"Wha-!" The young dragon started to shout, only to find his mouth covered by the guardian's forepaw.

"Keep it down." He whispered in a stern tone, Flame immediately calming down, if not slightly. "Now, you have a lot of explaining to do before I even consider allowing you any inch of free space! I know what you two were doing in there, and I'll be damned if it's ever going to happen again! What were you thinking?"

"I-I- I don't know! I tried to go straight to you, honest! But Ember wouldn't let me… I- I couldn't resist! I tried, but before she allowed me any time to move, I was lost… You know what I mean? Right? I- I didn-" The ice guardian placed his paw over Flame's nose, holding his jaw shut. Flame knew that he had done wrong, but he couldn't help himself. The voice in the back of his head had taken control the moment Ember had kissed him.

Cyril sighed. "I don't know what you mean, but I don't want to talk about that. Regardless, what you did was wrong, and you obviously know it." Flame nodded quickly. "You do realise what could happen if Ember conceives?" The crimson dragon nodded again, still having his jaw held firmly shut. "And you are going to stay by her through everything, aren't you?" Another quick nod came from Flame. "Even if, by chance, Ember is now going to lay an egg?" The same reflex was all the fire dragon did, not wanting to give the head guardian any other reason to punish him. Cyril released Flame's jaw. "There, now you've seen me. And if Ember doesn't see you when she wakes up she won't be happy. Pray to the ancestors that she isn't going to lay an egg, because if she does, you have much work ahead of you."

Cyril knew that forcing Flame to stay away from Ember would only enrage her, and, on the off chance that she had fallen gravid, Cyril didn't want to cross her. The ice guardian pulled the door open ajar, enough for Flame to step back inside the pink dragoness' quarters. His immediate thought on what was going through Flame's mind. Panic was definitely there, the crimson dragon knew that he had done wrong, and was, in his mind, in more trouble than he ever had been. Not even if he had fought alongside the dark master would Flame think he had done worse. After destroying parts of the dragon temple, causing mass destruction amongst the ranks through revealing Spyro and Cynder to the world, and going against what was the guardians number one rule, the crimson dragon was still allowed to stay by Ember's side, he thought that he had gotten off lucky, and that was an understatement.

Cyril sighed once more, the night was nearly over, and he thought that everything that was going to happen had happened. The ice guardian retuned to his laying position against the outside wall, watching for any dragons looking for some last moment time alone. But thankfully, for now, none had emerged, although that had all tied at least once.

It had been a long night, but a productive one nonetheless for the head guardian. He had gone over everything that he needed addressing, and sorted out many of his problems, if not by chance. Problems still plagued the ice guardians mind, and certain action would be planned by how much Flame was getting away with. Cyril had seemed to play favourites, but it was all he could do. Flame had gone above and beyond all others, regardless of if he wanted to or not. Cyril figured that Ember would've started the advances, but he would figure that out tomorrow. The problem of Cynder's health had come up again too. The ice guardian silently cursed himself for forgetting it, but he wasn't going to break such news to her just yet, and wouldn't do it so lightly either.

Down the hallway Cyril heard the click of a lock, finding a door open ajar, promptly throwing another icicle into it, causing the door to immediately shut. This caused the guardian to smile inwardly at himself. As tired as he was, the night was definitely one to remember, because no doubt the day was going to be even worse. Although it was still a few hours until sunrise, Cyril knew that sleep, wasn't going to be an option.

* * *

PHEW!

Wow... it's been a while......

oh well....

it's back now, no more complaining.....

well...

you can complain that there isn't actually a new chapter out with it....

But I DID re-post this 2 days earlier than I actually planned.....

oh well....

you win some, you lose some....

and then you gain an extra workload.... heh heh heh

I'll TRY to update sooner, rather than later....

but for the moment, you'll just have to wait....


	18. The Morning After

**Chapter 18:** **The Morning After**

Daylight broke as the sun filtered through the curtain onto the dragon couple that had spent the entire night against each other, but that didn't mean that everything was perfect for them, Spyro's last thoughts from the previous day still fresh in his mind, but the decision was final. Cynder would say when she was ready to have a hatchling.

Cynder had her forelegs linked firmly around Spyro's chest as she had fallen asleep behind the purple saviour. It was a different feeling for Spyro, to have the one he loved above all else held tightly against his back. It was a pleasant thought and a moment that he didn't want to forget. After several moments of laying in peace, Spyro felt the black dragoness behind him stir slightly, and tighten her embrace around his muscular gold chest, which only brightened as the sun's rays reflected off of them.

The black dragoness took a deep breath, signalling to the male that she was awake, and pulled Spyro closer to her once more. "Good morning my love," Cynder whispered softly. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong now?" She hadn't forgotten Spyro's saddened state from last night.

Spyro sighed, he didn't want to tell Cynder, and the fact that she had brought up the subject that early in the morning didn't give his mind a chance to come up with an excuse. Yet all of those points aside, Cynder had Spyro in a vice-like grip, which only lowered his chances of getting away without saying anything. The purple male moved his body so that all four of his legs were against the floor, but as he shifted against Cynder's bed, she too followed, now lying on-top of Spyro, Cynder pressed her hind legs against Spyro's back, maintaining enough balance to not fall off.

"Spyro, I'm not letting go until you tell me what is wrong. I know that you're not like this." Cynder pressed her wings down against Spyro's. "Spyro please… What's wrong?"

Another loud sigh emanated from the purple dragon. Cynder had given him no choice. Spyro rolled back onto his side, feeling Cynder return to her position as she was asleep. Spyro paused for a few moments, wishing that there was another way. "It's Flame… And Ember…"

Cynder immediately released Spyro from her grip. "What? Why would you be-" Cynder stopped, then the memory of Cyril leaving in a hurry came to mind. "Oh no, are they still fighting?"

Spyro turned around to face Cynder. "No, it's not that…" He paused for a moment as Cynder's expression changed completely, for a brief moment there was a hint of worry over the fact that Ember would once more be coming after Spyro, which was one of Cynder's worst nightmares.

After another few moments of silence Cynder leaned in towards Spyro. "Please, tell me."

"They were," Spyro paused for a moment after taking a deep breath. "Mating."

Cynder pulled her head back after hearing Spyro's words, her immediate thoughts were that they were finally together, but the problems that came to her mind was that they had the possibility to become parents. Cynder then thought about herself and Spyro, how she had thought over their situation and why she was holding out on wanting to have a hatchling of her own. Spyro had said not to.

Unbeknownst to either dragon, they had both summed up their situations, and both secretly wanted to become parents. But both dragons held their tongues, as the other had said that it would be better to wait, rather than push the other into a decision. Spyro knew that the moment he said that he wanted a hatchling Cynder would feel pressured to comply with his request. Likewise were Cynder's thoughts, believing that if she told Spyro, then he would only do it because she asked him to, not out of free will.

There was an awkward silence between the couple as they both ran through their thoughts of wanting to have a hatchling to call their own, believing that it was possible for Ember and Flame to become parents in their own rights. Spyro got up from his laying position, helping Cynder to her feet with his forearm, and headed out the door without a word.

The morning itself had just begun, so most of the temple would either be asleep, or away from their quarters in some sort of early morning exercise which one small group of males had started and quickly became routine.

Spyro and Cynder casually walked through the corridor, not in any rush to go anywhere, but it was when they found Cyril lying directly opposite Ember's door that gave the two a worry. At first it had looked like the ice guardian had been attacked, but as Spyro took a faster step to see what had happened, Cyril's head popped up, quickly followed by the rest of his form to greet the young couple.

"Good morning Cynder, Spyro," He started in a strangely cheery tone of voice. Cynder gave Spyro a nudge with her form as if to show off that Cyril said her name first. "What brings you up this early? Dawn has but just broken, do you have plans for the day?"

"Uh, no… Not really…" Cynder quickly replied.

"Why were you lying in the corridor?" Spyro asked immediately after Cynder had finished. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing that you already know." Cyril replied after a half chuckle towards Spyro. "But I assure you, nothing will be as it was yesterday after I get through to everyone." The ice guardians ever-so-serious tone returning.

"Umm, Cyril… She knows." Spyro muttered quietly as Cynder had shot him a glance from Cyril's last comment.

"I assumed that this would've happened." Cyril stepped towards the young black dragoness who was pressed against Spyro like they had been for days. "Cynder, you must keep this quiet. Not even Volteer or Terrador must know of this. Keep it between you, me and Spyro. Ember and Flame don't know that we know, and I would prefer to keep it that way." Cyril kept his composure and straight-forward attitude, knowing that Flame had told him what had happened. But, it would be kept quiet as long as the ice dragon remembered who knew what. It was a big issue, but Cyril was convinced that Flame wasn't going to act with Ember in such a way for a while.

"Why mustn't the other guardians know?" Cynder asked quickly.

Cyril stepped back to a reasonable distance again, sighing in the process. "I asked myself the same question last night. But, how I put it, Volteer would only want to know more about them, some sort of test no doubt. And Terrador wouldn't allow the two to be anywhere near each other unless being watched by someone else. So, I decided that they aren't to know anything about this. Hence the reason I want you two to keep it quiet."

Spyro glanced towards Cynder, understanding Cyril's argument completely, while Cynder, only having been within the Dragon Temple for several months, didn't know too much about the remaining guardian's character. But the point was made, everyone wouldn't speak a word of it.

"Then what are you going to do about it?" Spyro spoke up once more.

"I am going to do what anyone else in my position would." The Ice guardian turned around and headed to the end of the corridor. "Correct what was my error in the beginning. But, for the moment, I'll let everyone sleep in for a while… Ancestors knows I need it."

Both Spyro and Cynder looked at each other, then turned around and headed in the opposite direction of the head guardian. There were some parts of his semi-speech that didn't make sense, but from what the two young dragons could gather, he had been up all night making sure nothing would go wrong as a last-ditch effort to try and correct what problems he had created.

* * *

Flame awoke late in the morning, finding himself flat on his back, with Ember lying atop of him. After Flame had spoken with Cyril that morning, the young dragon returned to his bed, and fell asleep beside the one he would spend the rest of his life with. _I guess that Ember woke up last night too._ The male dragon thought to himself. He stretched his neck around, figuring out where his limbs were in accordance to Ember's. Eventually, the fire dragon rolled to his side, and eased Ember onto the bed beside him. Flame pulled one of his paws away from Ember and lightly brushed the back of a talon along the pink dragoness' forehead and along the edge of her horns.

He couldn't believe it, the dragon he had been chasing for longer than he had been alive for, was finally lying in his room, on his bed, in his arms. And one word described them. They were mates. Weeks ago Flame would've only dreamt of a situation like this, yet, now that it was happening, something didn't feel right. Granted they had spent their first night together as a couple giving the single most important thing to each other. Again, to Flame it was a dream come true, but reality quickly caught up with the young dragon, and that brought on what could inevitably be the consequences of their actions. Of course, Flame had no plans on becoming a father at all in the near future, but it had been on his mind once or twice over the past few weeks. All dragons in the temple had the thought of bearing a hatchling and bringing life into the world. But what that duty would've entailed is why the young fire dragon was concerned.

Flame slowly lowered his hand from his mate's head and returned it to just below her foreleg once more, causing the pink dragoness to sigh heavily and pull him closer to her. Although it wasn't on the most idea of terms, Flame could've cared less. He had Ember, and that was all he could've hoped for.

The fire dragon closed his eyes and joined his mate in sleep, knowing fully well that Cyril would know how to control the situation and keep his secret. So everything would go back to normal.

* * *

"I have called you all here to address a problem that has made itself known over the past few days." Cyril stood before every other dragon living in the temple, besides Flame and Ember who, after repeated attempts, wouldn't 'wake up' in Cyril's words. So, for every other dragon gathered, they figured that Ember, or Flame, were either finally together, or, being held at the other's whim. The only three that knew exactly what was going on were Spyro, Cynder, and Cyril. Terrador and Volteer had inquired as to the whereabouts of Flame and Ember, but received nothing on the subject in response. If nothing was said here, then the remaining two guardians would figure out what was going on through other means.

"I know that what I said the other day was understanding and lenient. But certain… _Actions,_ have been brought to my attention. You all know that both Flame and Ember aren't here, and it is nothing to be alarmed about. I am dealing with them like I would anyone else before me. But they are none of your concern. I know that before I said that if you wanted to live in the same room as your partner you would consult us and negotiate from there, but that is no longer an option. Each night there will be a seal put on every single door that won't unlock until morning. Any dragon caught in another's room at any time during the day, without a valid reason, will find some incredibly humiliating punishment." Volteer and Terrador glanced between each other, then towards the younger occupants of the temple, who were doing the same thing. No-one could believe what they were hearing.

"I am not saying this to drive you apart, but there are some rules and guidelines that aren't practical enough to suit your lifestyle at this moment. I am willing to return everything the way it was, if, you all can show me that there is some self control amongst you. You all know exactly what I'm trying to prevent, and you will thank me in the future for it. Because if nothing is done to prevent you from making your own mistakes, there wouldn't be enough of you left to carry out what must be done in the future," The Ice guardian glanced towards Spyro. "We can't just leave it up to one dragon again."

Cyril turned around and headed off through one of the many corridors that lead to, and away from, the main foyer, making his way up a set of stairs and around a corner. Only to have Terrador and Volteer take off moments behind him. All the remaining dragons just sat still in the foyer, not sure about what was going on, other than the fact that they wouldn't be able to do anything at night, unless it was by themself.

"What are you doing Cyril? Are we trying to empty the temple?" Volteer almost shouted chasing after the lead guardian. "If you keep making up rules like that they would all head off to Warfang before next season!"

"And who says that's such a bad thing Volteer?" Cyril countered back. "Yes, I have a duty to help them reach their full potential in more way than one. But we are all that's left of our kind, and the further out we spread, the better it is in the long run."

"But they're only hatchlings! You can't expect them to be able to fend for themselves on a daily basis!"

"They are old enough to know what is right and what is wrong. Warfang isn't the worst place a young dragon could be living in. And sometimes it is better for them to find their own feet. We can't always be there for them. When a battle is lost there won't always be one of us to help them."

"The only one who is strong enough to live on his own is Spyro, and that's because Cynder would always be behind him!" Volteer continued. "They won't always be able to live in a pack."

"I know that, but that's the idea. They know what is right now, and they are all stronger together. Sure, they will have their weaknesses, but there isn't anything out there hunting us anymore. We have allies all throughout the land and surely us ridding the world of evil is enough for them to consider welcoming our kind amongst them."

Terrador stepped forward between the other two guardians. "I agree with Cyril on this Volteer. All the dragons down there know their strengths and weaknesses. And they all know exactly what they're capable of. If some want to leave and live in a group on their own. Let them be. We aren't going to be able to control them forever." Volteer looked out a window as they continued to walk. "But if they do make the wrong choice while they're here, at least we would be able to guide them accordingly."

"They know enough to survive Terrador. We can't teach them life."

* * *

* * *

Alrighty then!

Good to see this story back in the swing of things.... Not exactly what you would call the most entertaining of chapters, but, you're all down here, so I guess I got some attention...

The Guardians might be a little off, and I don't know how things are going to work after this.... Kinda dug myself a hole with what to do...

So, I'll ask the question... "What's next?"

I don't know....

you don't know....

So I guess that's why you keep coming back...

Anyway, I will try to update once-a-month at the very least...


	19. Public Display

Ok.... WOW....

I don't know WHERE this chapter came from... But, it was almost impossible to write....

I was up until 3am writing this just because I had so many ideas working through my mind...

And so we end up with this....

I will say no more...

ENJOY!

* * *

**Chapter 19:** **Public Display**

The head guardian's speech had left the entire audience at a loss for words. There was so much that the entire dragon populace didn't know how to react to the new rules, that the population didn't know whether or not to revoke, or ignore the newly-set guidelines, and after spending several minutes in complete silence, two by two the dragons slowly left the main foyer and headed off to their usual daily activities. But, instead of heading to either one's room the respective couples left the temple and headed off into the vast forest that surrounded the temple itself. Finding their own little sanctuary away from the others they lived with. Spyro and Cynder however, headed back through the corridors towards Cynder's room, as Spyro's still hadn't been repaired since Flame had broken it down only yesterday.

"Wait Spyro, are you sure we're allowed to do this?" Cynder had taken a seat on her bed, watching as Spyro decided whether or not he should join his future mate.

"Cyril said it himself. '_I trust you two enough to be able to stay together'._" Spyro tried his best to impersonate the Ice guardian's voice. "Besides, when was the last time Cyril actually punished someone on their first mistake?" The purple dragon stepped towards Cynder and lay down at her side, draping one of his wings over her in the process.

"As long as you're sure Spyro. I don't plan on doing anything 'terribly humiliating' in the near future." Cynder slowly dropped her head onto her bed, Spyro's quickly following beside hers. Cynder took a deep sigh and licked Spyro's cheek. "It certainly makes you think though, doesn't it?"

"What does?"

"Well, if Flame and Ember are now mates, I wonder how much differently they will act towards each other."

"It shouldn't be any different to how we act towards each other now Cyn."

"But what if... I mean, when we're mates, something changes between us."

"I wouldn't change a thing Cynder. And when that day comes we'll both be ready for it." Spyro returned Cynder's affection with a lick of his own, both dragons drifting into silence as voices faintly echoed down the corridor.

"Now Volteer, Terrador. Isn't this better? The temple is dead silent. Nothing can happen here without any of us knowing about it." Cyril lead the other two guardians around the long sweeping corridor of rooms.

"But who will stop them from acting inappropriately outside?" Volteer replied.

"Nothing can happen outside because they're all exposed to the elements. Every one of those dragons hate nothing above all else than being watched. And while their outside, everything is open to the world, which will prevent anything happening." The other two guardians had to admit. Cyril really had thought his rules through quite thoroughly. There really was nothing that could happen without them knowing about it. "Now all we have to do is inform Flame and Ember of the new arrangements." And not a moment later were all three guardians standing before Flame's door. "Although I don't recall seeing either Cynder or Spyro leaving the castle. Terrador, Volteer. Just inform these two about the happenings of this-morning. I need to go check up on a few things."

The remaining two guardians glanced between each other, before knocking lightly on the young fire dragon's door. "Flame, Ember... We need to talk to you two for a moment..."

Cyril strolled down the corridor with his now regular up-beat tone, trying to remember if both Spyro and Cynder had actually left the temple like the others. It took the head guardian several minutes to reach the final room on the corridor, but he wasn't surprised when he found Spyro and Cynder laying together on her bed. "Well, Spyro, Cynder. It seems that what I said today didn't get through to you."

Spyro immediately stood up. "You told us yourself the other day that it was fine for us to be like this ever since Flame broke my door. You said that until it was repaired I could stay with Cynder."

"Not every room in this corridor is occupied you know Spyro." The head guardian watched as the purple dragon stepped towards him. "And here was me thinking that you would've been one that would at least follow my rules."

"Cyril, don't punish Cynder for this. It was my idea, and my fault. Do whatever you have planned with me, not her."

"Hmmm, so very noble of you Spyro." The ice guardian turned around and exited Cynder's room. "But unfortunately for you, even if one in the couple breaks a rule, they both have to suffer." Cyril paused just as his tail left the black dragoness's room. "And Spyro, that means you need to leave her room, now."

The young purple dragon glanced back towards Cynder. "I'm sorry Cyn... I should've listened to you."

The black dragoness didn't bother to reply as Spyro left her sight and started talking with Cyril once more. Cynder didn't really hate Spyro for what he had brought upon them, she just wished that he would listen to her more often than not. Although she too would've gone against her words if given the opportunities. It wasn't an issue that should be played around with, but sometimes Cyril pushed his power a little too far.

"Prepare yourself Spyro," The Ice guardian said to Spyro. "You and Cynder have quite the presentation to practise."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll find out soon enough Spyro. But don't worry. The entire temple will be there to see it." The ice guardian gave a light chuckle.

"So we're going to have to do a play in-front of the entire temple? What's so hard about that?"

"It's either you both do the same thing, or, you go one at a time to each respective group."

"Each group? What are you talking about?"

"Tomorrow Spyro. Everything will be revealed for both you and Cynder."

* * *

Everything was peacefully quiet. The sun had just set, and the final meal of the day had been eaten. Spyro and Cynder had regrouped and promptly left the temple just moments after. The purple dragon had relayed everything Cyril had told him, and they both decided that it would be better if they got it over and done with together rather than one by one. No others knew about Spyro and Cynder's predicament. All they knew, as by Cyril's announcement at the evening meal-time, was that there would be another meeting of the entire temple the next morning. Both Spyro and Cynder assumed that was when their punishment would take place. However strange it might've been.

Flame and Ember had spent the day together, and after being removed from Flame's room and informed of the new rules, they too took off away from the temple and found their own little spot in the forest away from the others. As strange as it might've been, Ember had changed completely from the previous day. After 'thanking' Flame for everything he had done for her the pink dragoness was more than happy to oblige with almost anything her secret mate came up with.

Everything was actually functioning well within the dragon temple despite the extreme lengths the three guardians reached to make sure nothing happened between the seemingly countless couples within the dragon temple. But Cyril himself was surprised that both Terrador and Volteer didn't inquire as to what happened last night between Flame and Ember. But that was irrelevant either way. Because what happened can't be reversed. And all Cyril, Flame and Ember could hope for was that their actions didn't have a consequence. That Ember would remain childless, and Flame wouldn't be a father just yet. And that much all three were thankful for. Also both Flame and Ember were grateful about the fact that neither Volteer or Terrador knew about their relationship, meaning that there wouldn't be a bombardment of questions, from them at least.

After Cyril had addressed that there would be another meeting of all dragons Both Ember and Flame were approached by several other couples inquiring into what happened last night, and all of them received the same answer. The two apparently had a fight between themselves, which was why Cyril got attacked by fireballs each time he tried to open the door. And after they both had collapsed exhausted was when everything came out. Everything they had kept secret from each other for the entire time the war had been over. Both Flame and Ember knew that it was an elaborate lie, but everyone else seemed to accept it nonetheless. Because it was the only answer they gave to anyone, which only strengthened the chance of the others accepting it. Although both Ember and Flame were surprised that Neither Spyro, nor Cynder had asked about what happened last night. Although they hadn't seen the two all day, it was likely that the thought had never crossed their minds. Not that it bothered them either way. Flame knew that only Cyril knew of what happened. And Ember thought it was a complete secret to the world. The elaborate tangle of lies was holding well, and neither party was even considering telling the world. Not until it was going to be official anyway.

As the night wore on, and all dragons were inside their own quarters. Spyro excluded as he was given a new room until his old one had been repaired. The doors were sealed shut and the guardians headed off to their own places of refuge. It had been a very long day for Cyril who wanted nothing more than to reach his bed. It had been a full two days since the ice guardian had received any substantial sleep at all. And at the moment, he looked forward to nothing more than to feel sleeps embrace once more.

* * *

The sun rose over the horizon, revealing the dragon temple to the world once more, and not a moment after the sun's rays reached the highest pillar of the temple all doors were unlocked and allowed the free-movement of each young dragon living in the ancient temple once more.

It took several hours from dawn for everyone to be assembled in the main foyer once more. No-one knowing exactly why they were called back here again so soon, other than the guardians, Spyro, and Cynder. But the young couple wondered what the ice guardian had planned for them both as 'terribly humiliating' and what Spyro had assumed would've been a show of some sorts. Although nothing Spyro could come up with fit with anything the guardians were doing at the time. He was truly afraid at what he and Cynder might've had to do. Either way, the sooner everything was over, the better.

"Is everyone here?" Cyril asked towards the gathered crowd, and after doing a quick once-over of the population, Cyril believed that everyone was indeed gathered before him, Terrador and Volteer standing off to a side wondering what the ice guardian had planned. They both knew that Spyro and Cynder were involved, they just didn't know what Cyril had planned for them. "Now, for the most part, I am greatly pleased at watching you all get out once in a while and enjoy the scenery." There was a slight grumble from the crowd at that last comment. "But, unfortunately, not all of you could follow the rules entirely. There was one couple that decided to stay indoors for the day, and just as proof that I am completely serious about this issue, I would like to ask Spyro and Cynder up here."

Both dragons glanced towards each other, and slowly made their way towards the elevated platform where Cyril stood. And once the two had made it up to the platform, the ice guardian lowered his voice for the two younger dragons.

"So, have you made a decision Spyro?"

"We both figured that it would be better to get it over and done with together."

"Good, that means I don't have to make up another reason for making this gathering." The Ice guardian stepped towards the edge of the platform and looked over the gathered populace. "Now, as I am trying to prevent anything inappropriate happening between you all, I have decided to make everything much clearer for you all. At least we have two models to provide demonstrations on what not to do."

Both Spyro and Cynder looked at each other in shock. "Surely he doesn't mean that we have to..."

"Show everyone what you shouldn't be doing? Of course that's what I mean." Cyril Interrupted the purple dragon. "I said that the punishments for breaking the rules would be terribly humiliating, and what better way to tell the others not to do anything than with a demonstration so they know exactly what I'm talking about."

"So you want us to mate on stage?" Cynder refused to believe the words coming out of her own mouth.

"No, of course not. That's what I'm trying to stop. I'm sure Spyro can control himself. It's either you do this, or you'll be doing things one at a time. And believe me, you don't want to know what you have to do then."

"This is crazy! No way am I going to pretend to mate Cynder!" Spyro's outburst was far from discreet.

"Look, Spyro. You either do this now, or you do it tomorrow. Only if you wait until tomorrow you both will have to do it together, then by yourselves. Either way, you aren't getting out of this unpunished."

"You can't be serious about this Cyril!"

"Oh Spyro shut up. It's your fault we're in this mess, so let's just get it over with. It might not be so bad anyway." The black dragoness leant in towards Spyro and lowered her voice. "Besides, I've wanted to know what it would be like for a while now."

"Y-you have?" Cynder nodded slightly

"Ever since the first night we spent together." Cynder took a step back from Spyro and turned to face the other way, if not only slightly.

After the sudden revelation by Spyro he struggled to keep his composure. Under the strength of all his willpower, Spyro managed to contain himself and stood slightly beside Cynder, his shoulders at her hind legs. The purple dragon took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Shutting everything out of his mind but Cynder and himself, Spyro pushed off his forelegs and rested himself onto Cynder's back. Cynder dropped slightly at the sudden increase in weight but she held firm pushing back against Spyro's weight as if it were natural to her. Spyro shifted his forepaws onto her shoulders and pushed into her with his hind legs if not just purely by instinct. But the purple dragon's will held strong as he managed to suppress every urge that came to him. His mind was blocked off from the outside world, ignoring everything but Cynder underneath him, and his complete will to remain true to his words.

Cynder just stood firm. She knew that there were difference between this 'demonstration' and if it were actually happening. If they were to mate Cynder would've moved her tail to one side or curved it up completely, she would've pushed back against Spyro to counteract the forces he was pushing towards her, Cynder would've done any number of things to try and make it feel at least a little less 'put on' and more natural. But for the moment, it would do.

Spyro was still detached from the world. All he had to do was mount Cynder and supposedly hold that position until something was said or Cynder moved away from him. The purple male hoped that Cynder would move away from him because all of his attention was placed elsewhere.

"Alright, that's enough you two." Cyril finally spoke, causing Cynder to step forward much to Spyro's relief and after walking a near-complete circle Cynder rubbed herself against her future mate's side, an alluring growl escaping her at the same time.

"Now, I did this for two reasons. One is that I'm serious about these rules, the punishments will become worse as each offending couple is caught. Secondly it was because you are all equals now. There is nothing different between you, Spyro, or myself. There will be no special treatment for anyone living within this temple." Cyril waved off Spyro and Cynder who turned away and left the foyer via the back entrance.

"Cynder..." Spyro said quietly. "I'm sorry I had to put you through that."

"Don't be." Was her quick reply. "As I said before, I always wanted to know what it would've felt like for us to actually mate. Although that is hardly something to go off, I wouldn't have known what I needed to do to compensate for when you're on me." Cynder blushed slightly at what she had said. "Besides, all I had to do was stand there. It would've been harder on you than it was on me."

Spyro turned his head away and smiled slightly, his self control being stretched once more. "You don't know the half of it."


	20. Mine

**Chapter 20:** **Mine**

There was a wide variety of expressions on the faces of the gathered dragons. Not only were they shocked at what they had seen, but, some dragons also had a thought very similar to the one Cynder had moments ago. Most of the female population who had been chosen by a male wondered what it would be like to be 'mounted' per-say. Yet, most of the males felt an envy for Spyro, albeit this time not for his colouring. Although it was in public and watched by their peers, most of the males wanted to do the same thing they had just witnessed. In private, of course. None of them would be able to control themselves enough to do it in public.

"Now, I had this take place as a warning to the rest of you." Cyril noticed the dragon's expressions and knew that more action needed to be taken. "I guarantee to all of you that this particular punishment will never happen again. But, if any of you are caught, outside specific instruction, like that then things will only get worse. Have I made myself clear?" The ice guardian knew that it would happen. But it was the best he could do at the time.

There was a low grumble that came from the crowd, signifying that they had heard, and understood, the head guardian's instructions. But knowing the rules, and abiding by them, were two completely different things.

The dragon population slowly dissipated from the main foyer and off to their regular daily activities. Nothing. So, two by two, the young dragons left the temple and found their own little place of wilderness just out of sight from the others. Not all decided to leave the temple immediately, opting to stay indoors for a while and socialise amongst themselves.

"Hey, Spyro!" The purple dragon was walking by himself down one of the countless corridors within the dragon temple. He turned around slowly to find Flame running up behind him. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Umm, yeah. Sure. What is it?" Spyro was heading towards Cynder's room, as that was where they had agreed to meet. Outside her door, of course, considering what they had to do from the first incident. If that was only the first level of reprimand from the head guardian, both Spyro and Cynder wanted nothing more of it.

"I need to talk to you about Ember..." Flame looked back down the corridor to make sure she hadn't followed him. "I don't think I have long, but, I don't want to have to find you in private every time something happens."

Spyro paused for a moment, thinking about what Flame had said. '_Every time something happens'._ _Is he going to tell me that he mated with Ember? Why would he do that? Does he know already? _This time Spyro looked behind himself, checking for a phantom listener. "What happens?"

"Last night, Ember and I were talking. And unless you talk to Cynder and try to sort things out, she would never be able to talk with you again. Ember knows that you and I –used to- spend a lot of time together when we were younger, and that I would still want to see you occasionally." Flame quickly darted his head behind him once more, seeing the tip of a dragon's tail pull itself back behind cover.

"So you want me to talk to Cynder about Ember? And try to settle what's between them?" Spyro concluded.

"Yes, exactly. I know Ember will take some convincing. But she acknowledges that I would want to talk to you, and sometimes we'll walk past each other with them with us."

"I don't know if I'm ready to forgive Ember yet, let alone Cynder. But, I'll talk to her about it. Ember must apologise for what she did, and then we might consider forgiving her. But for the moment, all I can do is talk to Cynder about it." Spyro turned around and headed back on his way. "Find me again tomorrow to tell me if Ember will accept that she was in the wrong. But otherwise I can't do anything about it."

Spyro walked off back down the corridor, the thoughts of having to forgiving Ember running through his mind. _She wasn't trying to do everything on purpose... Was she?_ _Surely she didn't want to kill Cynder..._ Spyro was conflicted. Yes, he wanted to forgive Ember and allow everyone's lives to go back to normal. But this was the dragon who had almost killed the one he now claims to be his mate. Wants her to be his mate. The wish to be able to talk to anyone have their be no tension between them, against the common sense of knowing that the one he was forgiving could've been called a murderer. But he too was a murderer, just in a different sense.

But that was the past. Spyro had more than enough to think about at the time being. Between trying to figure out whether or not he would easily forgive Ember for what she had done to Cynder, and, remembering not to try and make any form of movement towards the thought of wanting to have hatchlings with Cynder at the time. There was more than enough on his mind to begin with, let alone needing this to be added to it. The purple saviour took a deep breath and sighed as he turned rounded the final corner on his journey to Cynder's room. Nothing would be said unless the time was right. Flame would find him tomorrow with the answer to whether or not Ember would even consider apologising over what she had done. And after that Spyro would have to convince Cynder to... _No! I won't influence Cynder's answer! _Spyro shook his head as his mental argument continued despite many attempts to calm his mind. _It will be her choice. I won't say anything. I will follow what Cynder's answer is. I need to stick with her and not put any pressure on her decision. _Spyro reached the end of the corridor and stood facing Cynder's room. _It was her that received the attacks, not me. She needs all the support I can give her._ And with that, Spyro silenced the thought in his mind, and reached a forepaw up to knock on her door.

The black dragoness was lazily hanging off the edge of her bed. Cynder was laying on her back, her head and shoulders resting on her bed while the rest of her body hung limp towards the centre of the room. Her tail idly flicking from side to side, her legs stretched out to either side, allowing her to breathe deeper and relax all the more. She was staring at the ceiling just watching the world go by. She had told Spyro to get her from her room after she'd run off ahead of him after the 'display', Cynder only spoke a few words while she ran ahead. Only just quiet enough for herself to hear it. So she knew Spyro wouldn't have any idea what she said. Which was exactly what she wanted.

It wasn't the nicest thing she could've done for him, but it seemed to work as the black dragoness had some time to relax and feel nothing for the time being. There was no rush to see what was happening with who. There was no pressure to have to abide by so many rules at once. _Well, maybe that one not so much..._ She thought to herself, wondering what exactly she still could do with Spyro. But there wasn't much else she could do with Spyro anyway. He had made it clear that they wouldn't want to move their relationship any further until they both agreed that it was the right thing to do. _Or if we just wanted to..._ Cynder added to her thoughts again. But there wasn't much else she could do. She didn't want to say anything about it because Spyro would undoubtedly comply to her request no matter how insane it may seem. He would do anything for her if she just asked. _I really am lucky to have him..._ Cynder thought to herself. It was still a little surreal to her that _the_ purple dragon was her future mate. But that was the problem. Spyro was her _future_ mate, therefore making him available to anyone who could change his- _No! Spyro loves me. He wouldn't do that._

There were three taps on the female's door. "Spyro?" She questioned towards the noise.

"Cynder, are you coming out?" The unmistakable voice of the purple dragon forced its way through the door.

The black dragoness rolled onto her side, hiding herself from the world once more, and walked slowly towards the door, opening it the moment it was within reach. "Of course I am..." Cynder walked out past Spyro, running the flat side of her tail down his body as she passed. "What took you so long?"

"Uh, nothing." Spyro covered. As it was still a liable excuse. Cynder only giggled back at him.

The two dragons stood facing each other for a moment until Spyro shut Cynder's door. "C'mon. We'll go to that cave you dug out. Surely none of the other dragons found it."

"I certainly hope not." Spyro answered as the two started back down the corridor. "It took me forever to-"

"I know Spyro, you told me."

* * *

"Hey! Flame! Is it true? Did it happen?" The crimson dragon turned around to find three separate dragonesses bound towards him. One was brilliant emerald along her head and back with a lighter green chest, the second one was ice blue with a white chest, and the final one was a bright orange with gold under-scales.

_How do they know that I... Cyril told them! Or someone else knows and told others... Oh crap, this can't get out..._ "W- what happened?" He stammered trying to act oblivious.

"You _were_ just talking to Spyro weren't you?" The ice-blue one questioned. "Did anything... _Interesting, _come out while you two talked?"

"Uhh, no..." Flame started to turn back around. "I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry right now, can yo-"

"Someone's hiding something from us..." The orange dragoness commented. But Flame continued to turn around and ignore it. "Your idea didn't work Safri. So I'll do it _my_ way."

The orange dragoness leapt over Flame and landed directly before him. "I really have to go-" Flame protested.

"I'll only be a minute, now tell me. Is Spyro _truly_ with Cynder or not?"

Flame took a step back and sighed inwardly. Word hadn't gotten out about Ember and himself. "Is that all you wanted to know?" He questioned, making sure his previous thought was a correct one. The orange dragoness only nodded giving a quick wink to the other two female's. "No, Spyro and Cynder haven't mated yet. Or at least he hasn't told me anyway."

"So, you'd say that Spyro is... _Available?_" She tried to confirm.

"No... Well, in the way you put it, I guess so. But no, it's not going to happen." Flame didn't really think about it. He knew that Spyro loved Cynder and nothing could get in the way of them. But all he wanted at the moment was to get back to Ember. "Now if you don't mind..." Flame motioned to move past the dragoness.

"Not at all..." She replied, side-stepping to allow the fire dragon through. "Thank you Flame!" She called back re-joining her friends and walking off in the opposite direction.

The crimson dragon continued along his way towards the main foyer which was where he had arranged to meet Ember. Mainly for the same reason everyone else was outside. To avoid Cyril's ever present watch and his outlandish idea of what punishment involved.

But nonetheless, it worked. And the guardians couldn't be happier that everything they were worried about had been prevented. Which was the best thing any of them could've hoped for. The young dragons were happy, because they were able to remain in contact with each other all day, any day. While the guardians enjoyed the fact that they'd prevented what would've undoubtedly been the epidemic that was parenthood. And although no signs were present yet, Ember still hadn't proved that she was, or wasn't, bearing hatchlings. It was possible for a dragon to become a parent out of season. Granted it was an unlikely scenario and rare even amongst the couples who tried, it wasn't unheard of.

"Ember..." The ice guardian spoke, seeing the pink dragoness laying against a wall in the main foyer. "I trust that you are waiting for Flame." He commented as he scanned the area for any onlookers.

"I told him to meet me here after he was done. He said that he had something to do..." She spoke clearly, eventually working her way up to a vertical base.

"How long have you been waiting here?"

"Not long."

"Did he say what he was going to do?"

"No"

Cyril continued to close the distance between Ember and himself, unsure of how to asses her condition. "Ember, I need to talk to you about what happened between you and Flame." Sometimes the best approach was the most direct one.

"Huh? What? What are you talking about?" Ember took a step back, running into the wall in the process.

"Ember, I know that you and Flame mated the night before." Cyril was surprised that Flame hadn't told her that he knew. Although it wasn't exactly the best thing for her to know given the circumstance.

"B-but... How? Who told you? Who else knows? Does that mean you'll make us-"

"Ember, calm down." The ice guardian lowered his head down to her level. "Flame told me the night it happened. No I won't make you do anything because I'm the only guardian that knows about it. I have told all those who do know to not say anything about it."

"Then who? Who else knows?" Ember took a step forward towards the head guardian. "And how do they know in the first place?"

Cyril sighed heavily and returned to his normal height. "I will tell you everything when Flame is here, and even then I don't like having this conversation here anyway." Cyril scanned the area once more. "Come to my quarters when Flame arrives. This needs to be settled now before something comes up that we can't fix."

"What do you mean 'fix'?" Ember questioned as the Ice guardian had turned around and headed off towards his chamber.

"I'll explain later. Just... Ember, we either settle this now, or I will get Volteer and Terrador in on it."

Ember recoiled, understanding the situation. There was nothing she could do about it. "I- I'll be up shortly..."

"Then you have nothing to worry about."

* * *

"Oh Spyro..." A voice called out from behind the Spyro and Cynder, causing him to turn around and cease any further movement. Cynder growled back at the voice, knowing instantly what was about to happen. Spyro lifted his nose and sniffed the air.

"Mmmm, Cynder... Do you smell that?" He spoke softly, sitting down and enjoying the many scents that tickled his senses.

"No... Why should I?" She fairly angrily answered back. But she received no answer. After a few moments she turned around and understood why. Spyro just sat there, sniffing the air. Cynder knew exactly what was happening. It was common knowledge that some males became completely incapacitated by the scent of a female either in heat, or at a certain level of arousal. Unless of course they had been claimed as a mate by another. It seemed that the act of mating dulled the sense of a dragon's lust for others. As they had already found the one whom they'd remain with until the end of their days.

Spyro lay down in the middle of the corridor and continued to sniff the air, his dragonhood slowly finding itself exposed to the world. Cynder shook her head slightly, but there was nothing she could do about it. He was 'unclaimed' in the entire sense of the word. But he did belong to her if she had anything to say about it. The black dragoness walked down the corridor, leaving Spyro to himself. She knew that nothing bad could happen to him because everyone else was outside. Cynder only thought that it was clear that Spyro had chosen her. But some just never learn.

Eventually reaching the opened door, Cynder found three dragonesses sitting amongst each other. One had all four of her limbs tied to four different objects in the room and her lower body was drenched in a pool of its own liquids. She had been tied in such a way that she was exposed to the world, while one of the remaining two tended to the helpless one, and the third stood at the door cooing out Spyro's name or for him to come to the voice.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Cynder growled towards the two upright dragons. Cynder figured that the tied up female was less than capable of standing up, let alone causing any problem.

"We're taking back what was rightfully ours to begin with. You don't mean anything to him! See how easy it was for us to reduce him to that?" The orange dragoness was standing at the door, she looked out and pointed towards Spyro in the process. "And might I say, he'll feel _just_ right inside me..."

Cynder whipped around quickly and held her blade against the dragoness' throat, just cutting into her scales enough to draw blood. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't end your life right now!"

"Because if you did... Spyro would never know what it's like to be with a _real_ queen." Cynder growled harshly towards the orange dragoness. "Well? What are you going to do Cynder?" The black dragoness released the tension she held against the orange dragoness' neck. "I knew it. You were never meant to be with Spyro. You won't even stand up for him when -"

Cynder shot her forelegs forward, slashing into the other dragoness' chest, leaving three deep gashes in her hide. Cynder dashed forward into the room holding her tail out to one side, slicing into the orange dragoness' foreleg and cutting a straight line all the way down her side until the tip of her tail. The perfect cut immediately started to ooze blood, and the extreme shock of the blow causing the target to collapse onto the ground. Knocked out from the pain. Cynder stood facing the emerald green dragoness who stood before the tied-up ice blue dragoness.

Cynder glanced towards the orange leader who was dead still on the floor, then back towards the emerald dragoness. "You have two choices." Cynder spoke coldly. "You can either fight me, and end up like your friend there, or, you can help her and quite possibly save her life." The emerald dragoness visibly gulped. "Either way, I'll be leaving with Spyro at my side."

The Emerald dragoness changed into a defensive stance. "You know that he doesn't want you. See how easy it was for us to reduce him to that?" She motioned outside, Cynder knowing exactly what she meant.

"Anyone could do that if they wanted to, if you weren't wasting your time I could've done it if I wanted to... But the bottom line is that he's mine, and nothing is going to change that."

"So be it. Go see Spyro and try and move him. It won't be as simple as you think." The emerald dragoness stood up, and turned around to un-tie her friend, slicing through the ropes faster than it took to tie them.

Cynder cautiously turned around and headed towards the door, stepping around the pool of blood that was rapidly spreading out over the hard stone floor. The black dragoness took one step outside before she was tackled into the corridor by the emerald dragoness, her claws dug deeply into Cynder's shoulders.

They both roared at each other as they scrambled for the better position, clawing and biting into each other at an even pace. Cynder rolled onto her front and pushed off against the ground, giving her height as she quickly flew towards the still distracted Spyro, turning around and landing facing her attacker.

"I should've dropped you where you stood." She growled, assessing the damage done to her shoulders. "But now you've sealed your own fate."

"You can't change the facts Cynder. Spyro will be mine before the day's end."

Cynder roared towards the emerald dragoness who side-stepped the attack and tried to land one of her own, only swinging at nothing and catching air. Cynder landed and turned around only to find her emerald enemy flying towards her. Cynder ducked underneath and held up her tail catching the other dragoness' right legs. The emerald dragoness yelped in pain and crashed onto the hard stone, sliding several feet before coming to a stop. She tried to stand back up, only to have her right side give out.

Cynder walked towards the defeated dragoness, but kept out of swiping range. "I am going to say this once, and once only. Spyro is mine. He always was mine. And he always will be, mine. If you ever try to take him from me again the only thing you'll see is my blade, in-between your eyes." Cynder held out her tail blade and pointed it towards her face. "Got it?"

* * *

* * *

Woo.... Yeah!!

Back peoples and that felt SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD

I just got on a roll at the start, and the finish....

that final bit wasn't supposed to take any more than 300-odd words.... then ended up going for a whole THOUSAND!

Damn that feels good....

Hope you all enjoyed it, and something we've all been waiting for happens NEXT CHAPTER!!!

Believe me or not.... Something BIG is happening....

I'm sure you'll love it...

and I'm hating myself for forcing this onto me....

oh well...

I'll live...

ONWARD!


	21. Confirmation

No, you are not seeing things...

This is legit...

Long story short, read through this long awaited chapter, and then the bottom...

* * *

**Chapter 21:** **Confirmation**

"I don't know what to do with you two. There is so much that I can't find out, but I have to because that's what I have to do!" Cyril was pacing back and forth before a seated Flame and Ember. "It has only been two days since the... 'Incident'... And you have had no signs of having hatchlings, right?" Ember shook her head, nothing for her had been out of the ordinary over the past few days. "That's good, I suppose. But it can take anywhere up to a week for any signs to emerge."

"Why does it matter if I am to have hatchlings? They would be mine and I would care for them like I wanted when I was that young. Flame will always be here and they wouldn't have to leave the temple for any reason until I think they would be ready." Ember thought that she held a valid point.

"Yes, you could look after them, but in the process your hatchlings would be surrounded by every single dragon living here, smothered within an inch of their lives."

"They wouldn't leave my room fo-"

"And then you would have Volteer poking in every few minutes to make sure that everything was fine."

"He would leave me alone after a few-"

"And what about Flame? If you do lock yourself into your room he would be carting food and other supplies to your room and back again." Ember lowered her head, understanding that not everything would be as simple as she thought. "I'm not trying to put you off having hatchlings Ember," Ember muttered under her breath a few incoherent words. "But we're just not ready for them."

"We? Who's we?" Flame questioned.

"All of us. Whether it be you, Ember, myself, the other guardians, or everyone else living here. If hatchlings were introduced here and now then this whole place would fall apart. Because the moment one comes in, another two get created, because everyone thinks like Ember did a few moments ago." Cyril sighed heavily and turned away. "There are some tests I could do to check if Ember is gravid, and it would put us all at ease. But the only one who knows how to do it properly is Volteer."

"Then it won't be done. It's not like I won't feel something inside me." Ember stood up, Flame immediately following suit.

"But by then it would be too late to-"

"You didn't hear me. If I am to have hatchlings in the near future, then I will. If I'm not, then it doesn't affect me. Either way, you are doing nothing to me, and that, is final."

Ember turned around and headed back out the door. Flame tailing right behind her. Cyril stood still, stunned by the young female's inability to listen to reason. The ice guardian shook his head and turned away. There was nothing he could do about it. "I guess I should start preparing then." He muttered to himself. "Why doesn't anyone listen to me? Soon enough we'll be having hatchlings running around this temple and all kinds of other problems." Cyril headed out his door and down the corridor, in the opposite direction to where Flame and Ember had left. "I certainly hope that wasn't the first sign..."

"Ouch... What was that for?" Spyro had regained his ability to think freely after Cynder had whacked him on the back of his head with her tail-blade. The purple dragon looked towards Cynder then down the hall where a non-descript red mass lay still. Cynder had sustained a few cuts along her forelegs and a fairly deep gash in her left shoulder. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Spyro," Cynder then glanced back and admired her handy-work. "But I can't say the same for them."

"Y- you mean there are more?"

"Were... They won't be bothering us for a while." Cynder took a step forward to beside Spyro. "I have no doubt that they will try again though. She continued forward alone, as Spyro remained looking back at the bloodied body down the corridor. "Are you coming Spyro?"

He turned around and walked to Cynder's side. "What did you do to them?"

"I taught them that they can't take shortcuts to finding a mate." Cynder had a strong limp on her left foreleg. "But I doubt they'll remember that lesson."

"Cynder, you're hurt. Here, let me help you..."

"Help me how Spyro? It is because of you that this happened in the first place! All because you and following the guardian's stupid rules." The black dragoness stepped forward, turning to face Spyro. "I don't mind some things that have been said, but you're just following Cyril's rule blindly and dragging me along with you. Spyro, you're all I have. And even today I was close to losing you. There was nothing you could do about it then, but there is something we can do to stop it from happening again." Cynder took a step forward, closing the distance between her and Spyro.

"Cynder, we can't... Where would we go? What would happen to us if we were caught? What if you end up-"

"I don't care Spyro. All I want is you, and they will just keep coming back again and again until they have you."

"I won't let them get to me-"

"How Spyro? By having a dream about fighting them off?" Cynder turned away once more. "I love you Spyro. And I couldn't live knowing that you were taken by someone like that."

"Cynder, I-"

Cynder placed a paw on his maw, silencing the purple dragon. "Don't say it Spyro. If you love me, you'll save yourself." The black dragoness turned around and headed down the corridor, leaving Spyro to his thoughts. She knew he didn't want to have to go to such extreme measures, but there was no other option. The only way Cynder knew that he would remain hers, was if he mated her. And the others would stop at nothing to make Spyro theirs.

Spyro stood still as Cynder limped down the corridor and around the corner heading towards her room. Once again, he found himself conflicted. There was the request of his seemingly definite mate-to-be or, the rules and guidelines set by those who protected and trained him during the war against Malefor. Spyro knew that it was an argument with only one answer. He only wished that he could tell his mind that.

There were three taps against the door. Oh ancestors she wished who it was. Cynder remained silent, laying on her bed in the shadow of the afternoon, staring out her window into the vast forest that sprawled out surrounding the dragon temple. There were another three knocks at the door, but again, Cynder remained ignorant to the noise, waiting to hear who it was, rather than opening the door to someone she doesn't want to talk to. There was a long silence after the second set of knocks, but eventually, nothing. She naturally assumed that it wasn't anyone important, otherwise they would've spoken up and asked if she was there. Not like anyone other than Spyro or the guardians came to her room. Which meant that if no voice was heard, it wasn't Spyro at the door. Cynder took a deep breath and sighed, finding it painful to inhale completely due to her shoulder wound.

She idly licked at it as her deep breath re-opened the wound causing it to seep blood. Cynder closed her eyes at the sting, the wind picked up slightly, blowing gently against her other shoulder.

"Here." A voice spoke behind her. Immediately turning around Cynder saw Spyro hanging off her window-sill holding a life gem out to her.

"Where'd you get that? I thought they were all found and taken during the war."

"I was given more than you could believe. During the sparring matches of training even if I got the slightest cut everyone would offer me a gem, so, I held on to a few, I figured they would come in use eventually." Cynder turned away and continued to clean her wound. "Cynder, don't be like this."

"Be like what?"

"Cynder, what's wrong?"

"You want to know what's wrong?" Cynder pushed herself to her feet and stepped towards the window where Spyro was still hanging. "What's wrong, is that I am losing the one I love because he insists on following the rules. There is no point to the rules anymore. There is nothing that we need to be protected from anymore. No more running away, no more fighting. The world is finally at peace, and yet you are so insistent on following rules that are trying to keep us safe from nothing."

"They don't mean nothing Cynder. Do you think we're ready to have a hatchling? No! I'm not ready, you're not ready. I want to have a life, I want to see the world when it's not in war or recovering from a battle. The reason Cyril made these rules are so we can have a life beyond just looking after hatchlings."

Cynder turned away and walked back to her bed and lay down. "I already have seen the world Spyro. Yes, I saw it during the time of war and destruction, but I was the one who made the land how it is today. That's why I don't want to go out and see it the world Spyro. Right now, you are all I have left in this world that is good. Because if we were to go out and see the world, I would see the pain I caused." Spyro stayed his tongue for the moment. Contemplating how to continue the conversation, inevitably coming up with nothing. "You see? There is nothing else I want to see in this world. In a few years, when the land is restored and the rubble removed, yes. But this soon, I don't want to relive what I will never forget."

"I understand Cynder. I will stay, for you." Spyro stepped inside the black dragoness' room. "Here, please use this. I can't bear to see you like that." He held out the life gem once more.

Cynder reached forward with her uninjured arm. Spyro moved closer and handed the gem to her. There was a bash at the door not a moment later. "Cynder, are you in there?" It was Cyril.

"Go, run." Cynder whispered to Spyro, motioning to the window, placing the gem on her bed, immediately covering it with her sheets. "Just a minute!" She called back to the ice guardian at the door.

"No. You're right, the rules are stupid. I am not leaving your side again." And that was one of the many reasons she loved him.

"Is everything okay in there Cynder? I noticed the trail of blood to your room,-" Cynder opened the door, revealing herself to the ice guardian, the gash on her shoulder clearly visible alongside the several other cuts along her form. "Why are you injured like that?" Cyril's shocked expression forcing itself out.

"There was an incident along the west side classrooms. I'm fine, really."

"Cynder, I need you to tell me exactly what happened."

"It could be too late for them if you stay."

Cyril glanced down the corridor, contemplating what Cynder said. "Which floor?"

"Fourth"

"Alright, I'll go check on them first, but when I get back I want to know exactly what happened."

"Cyril. Take some life gems, they'll need them." He gave a swift nod before swiftly making his way down the corridor heading towards where Cynder said the incident had taken place.

"Why did you do that?" Spyro questioned Cynder, surprised that Cyril hadn't spotted him standing at the side of Cynder's bed.

"I want them to see what they can't have. And if they're dead, all of this was for nothing."

"So that's all it was for, revenge?"

"Spyro, they were going to force themselves onto you, and you were going to do nothing to fight against them." Cynder lay back down on her bed. "If you knew how I felt in that moment, you would want them to feel the same way. To feel that their world was leaving, that the only reason you had fought to fit in decided that he didn't want you anymore. Spyro, it's because of you that I'm still here. And it's because of you that I'm even alive. I owe you my life, and yet you think nothing of it."

"Don't talk like that. I-"

"See? That's what I mean. You act like it's nothing, but. It's not! And I don't think you understand this. You are my life Spyro, the reason I'm here, the reason I'm staying, the answer to how I got here. It was all you. And without you, I'm just the 'terror of the skies'." Cynder wiped a tear from her eyes as she uncovered the life gem Spyro had brought to her moments ago. "And you still keep giving."

"It's because you keep thinking that you're not worth it Cynder. But you are, I would fight Malefor again if I had to, just to keep you here. The reason I keep giving to you is because I'm afraid you will go." Spyro lifted Cynder's head with one of his arms. "I don't want to lose you, the same way that you don't want to lose me. Which is why I've decided."

"Decided what?"

"Use that life gem, and follow me." Spyro walked towards the window. "You'll understand when we get there."

* * *

Ok, why have I decided to finish this story...?

Because I want to finish this now...

And, it will probably be the last thing I write...

Yes, updates will be few and far between, but it'll get here...

And since almost everything that I say is worth it's length in shit...

I'll probably write another story after this one...

But for now, this is the last story I'll write for ...


	22. A Find in the Forest

Alrighty... a FULL new chapter for those who love me... lol

Anyway, this chapter is special because it's the first one for this story in just about a year...

so, yeah... enjoy the first FULL chapter of 2011... certainly not going to be the last...

But, since it's about 2am here, I wrote this just for you guys to prove I'm now dedicated to this story, I even wrote something that I know I hate doing... Except it wasn't so bad this time... but again, that's another story...

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**ANONYMOUS REVIEW REPLIES!**

**Big Fan from far away**: I'm glad to think that you believe this is the best M-rated Spyro story... means a lot to me to think that people actually think that highly of my work... does a writer proud to know he's not just churning out words for the voice in his head that says "PULL THE TRIGGER!" Anyway, if you hadn't noticed, this story already is "M" rated as twice... (maybe three, lost count) times before there have been lemons and semi-lemons... The reason I don't put so many in is because if you do, then the plot itself means as a distraction from the bulk sex happening between the characters... and I don't like that... A story is read for the fact that it takes you away into another world until you hit the funny button at the bottom that says "review" (or something like that anyway)... I hope this update was soon enough, and if you're not from here, I'll just keep my mouth shut, as I have a habit of offending people no matter who they are!

Thank you for reviewing!

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Now, onto the story...

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**Chapter 22:** **A Find in the Forest**

"It says here that you should know after six days." Flame spoke silently under his breath to Ember. The two dragons found themselves in the library, flipping through books on mating, under the cover of books on fire mastery. "Did you know that the egg is fully formed a week before you actually lay it?"

"Give me that." Ember reached around the much larger cover-book, taking the smaller one of interest, scanning the pages only to confirm what Flame had said moments ago. "So in four days we get to find out if we're going to be parents."

"I guess we can wait another four days." Flame responded turning his attention to the second book he'd found on the subject, flicking through the pages at random intervals.

"I'm going to put this one back since it has nothing else of interest. It's all about the parenting stage." Ember pushed herself away from the table the two were gathered at, wandering through the almost deserted library as if no-one else was even around. Not that it really mattered if they were caught looking through those books. So what, they were allowed to be curious. Ember firmly shoved the book back in its space on the shelf taking out the ribbon she'd used as a place-holder. Making her way back to the table she walked up behind Flame silently, watching as he stared in rapt attention at one of the illustrations in the book of the female's sex organs. "Having a good look there?"

Flame jumped at Ember's voice, and immediately slammed the book shut. "Why'd you have to sneak up on me like that?"

"Why'd you have to stare at a book when you have the real thing?"

"I-" Ember knew she had trapped Flame, again. But it was always entertaining for her in the end, because she'd get something from it, since that's just how Flame was.

"Come on, we got the information we were looking for. Put that back so we can get back to our day."

"Our day of what?" Flame piled the three remaining books on the table and carried them towards their respective shelves. "You make it sound like there's something to do here other than sleep."

"The others can sleep. Come on, there's got to be something to do out there, all we have to do is find it." Ember picked a book out of Flame's arm as he placed one in an empty space. "And if there is nothing out there, that means we found somewhere alone." Flame knew what Ember was going on about, as he turned back out of the shelf row he was held up by Ember who had opened the book she stole. "And if that happens, I'll let you do this." She pointed to another one of the illustrations with a claw. Flame's eyes honed in on the image, only to turn away immediately, using all self-control to avoid arousal. Ember snickered to herself at what she expected was to come. What were the odds of actually finding something interesting in the forest anyway?

Both Spyro and Cynder floated effortlessly over the seemingly endless forest. Cynder knew exactly was coming, and felt giddy just thinking about it. She was finally to have Spyro as her mate, her one and only. The purple dragon of legend was giving himself to her, and her alone. From their last night spent together she knew Spyro's size, which ultimately meant nothing since she hadn't seen anyone else's, but the only thing that ran through her mind was Spyro himself. She was to finally have a mate. If only he'd listened to her sooner.

Spyro, on the other hand, didn't know what to expect. He knew in his mind that he was doing the right thing for both Cynder and himself, he only wished that they didn't have to hide during the process.

Pulling back with his wings, Spyro climbed quickly, and shot down towards the cave entrance where he'd taken Cynder several days before. Never did he think back then that they would be planning this.

Spyro landed with a slight thud as Cynder pulled up gracefully, trying to curve herself in ways to show off more of her form to the male dragon. Almost immediately getting a reaction from Spyro, who stepped closer to Cynder and nuzzled against her side.

"I love you." Cynder whispered quietly as she stared into his eyes. Those alone were more than enough to make her heart melt with feelings.

"I love you too Cynder." Spyro almost immediately replied. "If it hurts too much then tell me to stop. You know I hate seeing you in pain."

That was one of the many other reasons why she loved him. He was so caring and fearful. Cynder was sure that Spyro would throw himself before her if she was threatened in any way. Even if it meant risking his life. "I know Spyro. But this isn't just about me, I want you to enjoy this as much as I will."

"I'll remember it for the rest of my life." Spyro took a half step before Cynder, twisting his neck back to rub his muzzle back down Cynder's neck. Continuing down her side, Spyro slid lower along Cynder's form, reaching her underside mid-way down her form. He took another quarter-step forward, placing his nose just under Cynder's most private area. He breathed in deeply, her aroma entering his body more willingly than ever. But this time, he didn't have to fight off his urges. Spyro was free to act as instinct had taught him.

Flicking his tongue out and rubbing it against Cynder's underside, almost immediately the once near-invisible folds of scales opened up from the touch of his tongue, almost inviting him inside. Spyro wasted no time in indulging himself to Cynder's flavour. Breathing her scent deeply while inviting her body to open itself for him.

Cynder fought against the urge to lift one of her hind legs to allow Spyro better access to her slit, but instead glanced to his body, finding the male's dragonhood showing itself to her for the second time. Cynder too snaked her head down to Spyro's underside, taking a sharp gasp in pleasure as he delved deeper into her. Re-affirming her grip on reality Cynder reached the male's growing organ, remembering their last encounter Cynder wasted little time in taking the tip of his member into her waiting maw. She felt Spyro pause his activities to her underside as she traced around the end of his dragonhood, being careful not to cut it with the barbed end of her tongue. Cynder lifted her forepaw to reach Spyro's member, gliding the tips of her claws along the base of his length, enticing the rest of his dragonhood out of its sheath.

Spyro tried to continue his administrations to the inner reaches of her slit, finding it almost impossible to keep up constant movements, as the unrestricted feelings coming from his hind-quarters raced through the rest of his body, flooding his mind with images that only aroused him further. Spyro felt Cynder open her maw wider, allowing for his length to move deeper, hardening in the process. Spyro knew that he wasn't going to last as long as he wanted their first time to go on for. All he could do was make sure Cynder enjoyed their closest moment together as much as he did.

"Do you see anything yet?" Flame asked Ember as they flew over the Avalarian forest.

"No, nothing out of the ordinary."

"How much longer do you want to look?"

"Maybe another five minutes. Who knows we-" Ember stopped in her flight, hovering in mid-air. Flame noticed and looped around to face Ember.

"What is it?" Flame proceeded to ask, wondering why Ember had stopped. "What's wrong?"

"Don't you smell that?" Ember question Flame watching him shake his head in response. "How can you not smell that? Someone nearby is doing what we were planning."

"You mean they're mating?" Ember dropped from the sky and headed to the ground, landing as silently as possible. Flame immediately followed. "Are you sure? Because I don't –"

"Quiet! The reason you can't pick it up is because you're mated to me, you're desensitised to the scent of any female other than me." Ember turned around and continued to follow her nose, pausing after a moment to look back at Flame. "I thought you knew that, or when you were 'reading' those books were you just staring at the pictures?"

"I looked for what you asked me to, and I found it." Again, Flame knew Ember was right, and still refused to admit it.

"Come on. I know they're close."

"But why are we finding them anyway?"

"Because it's something to do, it'll be nice to be able to talk to other dragons about something other than how bored they are." Ember returned her gaze forward. "Alright, when I find them, if they're dragons we don't like, we leave and do our own thing. Does that sound fair?" Flame reluctantly nodded and padded up to Ember's side. "If you're that worried about being spotted then you can wait here."

"I want to know who they are."

"That's the spirit." Ember closed her eyes for a second and scanned the air. "This way."

Cynder found herself unable to process any thought beyond Spyro. Her mind swam in ecstasy. With each beat of her accelerating heart pleasure pulsed through every limb in her body. There was no other word for this moment. Heaven. And she hadn't even been mated yet.

Spyro was much the same, he blindly followed the orders given by his instincts. Press against here. Rub that side. Pull back and forth. It was when Cynder released his thoroughly prepared member when his mind returned, if not for a moment.

"That… Was in- credible!" Cynder managed to stammer between pants as Spyro pulled his head out from underneath his soon-to-be mate. Moments after Spyro had pulled himself out from under her, Cynder rubbed herself against Spyro's side as she walked past her purple saviour. Walking around to his other side, Cynder held her body firmly against his, tracing the tip of her wing along his spine. "It is time."

"Are you sure you're ready Cynder?" Spyro, just holding onto his mind for several moments.

"Spyro, I couldn't dream of a better moment." Cynder walked past Spyro, trailing her tail along the side of Spyro's neck, she stopped walking as her blade reached the back of Spyro's head. She pushed his head down with her tail and spread her legs for his pleasure to view her moist nether regions. Cynder trailed her tail down the top of Spyro's head to the tip of his snout, giving a slight flick at the end and curling it around her side, leaving herself open for him. "I am ready Spyro. Make me yours."

Spyro couldn't manage a reply, instead creeping forward, lifting his head to gaze at what would soon be his. Spyro lifted himself onto his hind legs, walking himself forward until his forepaws rested on Cynder's shoulders, the tip of his dragonhood resting against Cynder's open passage.

Managing to maintain control of his instincts Spyro resisted slamming himself into Cynder, instead slowly finding the path into his mate, feeling every ridge of his length rub against the walls of her tunnel. Spyro's member slid in so freely, but about half-way through Spyro hit a wall, forcing him to stop his entrance. Cynder jumped forward slightly at the connection, and braced herself against the ground. Spyro knew that he didn't have to ask, instead nuzzling the side of his maw against the base of her neck. Pressing firmly into her, Spyro slowly increased the pressure pushed against the barrier protecting Cynder's virginity. Spyro could hear Cynder whimper slightly, but knew better than to stop, she was the one to ask him to do this. They had come so far, he wasn't going to stop now.

Spyro stopped pressing against the barrier, instead pulling back slightly, and holding himself steady. "For you, Cynder." He gave one sharp thrust that broke through the wall, causing Cynder to howl out in pain. Spyro remained still as he heard Cynder continue to whimper in pain, he knew this was what she wanted, he only wished there was a way to avoid this.

"I- told you… Not to stop…" Cynder managed between cries, a single tear making its way down the side of her face.

Spyro wanted to stop, he wanted to pull out and comfort her, to apologise for the pain he'd caused. But, that wasn't an option. He had caused her pain, and the only way he could relieve that pain was to make himself feel good. Shutting off his mind, Spyro's instincts took over, pushing himself deeper into Cynder, ignoring her whimpers of pain as he continued deeper into who was now his mate.

Having fully entered his mate, Spyro pressed against Cynder, forcing the head as deep as it would go into her. He could still hear her pained breath though. Which meant Spyro had to continue. Pulling his length out of his mate, Spyro re-traced the long steps taken to reach that deeply into Cynder. Pulling out back to the tip of his length, Spyro pressed back into Cynder, more swiftly than the first time, the wall he found now non-existent within his mate. Continued unobstructed Spyro thrust to the hilt, and almost immediately pulled back on his length to come out of Cynder.

Spyro continued his thrusts into his mate, eventually finding her whimpers of pain turning into moans of pleasure. Just hearing her enjoying the sensation made Spyro want to press harder. Pushing into her tunnel forcefully, and pulling back just as swiftly. Spyro continued his actions, almost slamming himself into his mate now, causing her to jolt forward from the contact between them.

Cynder had lost her mind. After the lingering pain found itself flooded over with intense pleasure sent her from one extreme to the other, she wanted to enjoy the moment with Spyro. As he thrust into her, Cynder rocked herself backwards, increasing to the speed Spyro entered her with, Moving forward as he found his way out of her form. Cynder even found Spyro using his forelegs to push her forward of back, counteracting his thrusts, she had to do almost nothing to receive the pleasure radiating through her. That was her Spyro. Making sure others received more than he did. Cynder could feel the intense heat flowing from Spyro's underside against her back, joining with his member to set her body aflame with love and passion.

Coming from almost no-where Cynder felt her body surpass the warmth coming from Spyro. Her pleasured moans echoing throughout the cave, joining with Spyro's low growl. Cynder felt her heat jump again, she knew she was close.

Spyro heard Cynder's moans become shorter and more frequent. He was holding off, trying to hold the moment together for as long as possible. Seemingly reaching his limit, Spyro pressed himself as far as he could into Cynder, feeling her weight press back against him, aiding in Spyro's efforts to bury his length inside her. Then he felt the end.

Cynder shrieked out in pleasure, clenching her forepaws making grooves along the stone from her sharpened claws, she felt herself erupt from the inside as the intense feelings of pleasure, love and passion spread from the tip of Spyro's length into the depths of her no-more virgin passage. She felt Spyro continue to press harder against her, with each thrust it only accelerated the spread of her feelings. Spyro eventually came to a stop, releasing the vice-like hold of his forelegs on her shoulders and reducing the energy holding himself inside Cynder.

Cynder lowered herself to the cave floor, rolling onto her side with Spyro allowing him keep them both connected. They were mates, unified forever bound only to each other.

Ember lay on the grass with Flame beside her. After getting the first glimpse of purple and black, both Ember and Flame instantly knew that Spyro and Cynder were the couple. And wasted no time in flying to the other side of the dragon temple, not wanting to be seen by either Spyro or Cynder. "It's about time they mated." Flame commented to Ember. "I can't believe that we did before them anyway."

"I don't know. It could be worse though."

"How so?"

"Well, someone else could've seen them as opposed to us." Ember looked back to Flame.

"Imagine if Cyril found them." Flame laughed to himself quietly until Ember rolled onto her feet and turned around.

"Imagine if I found who?"

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For those who can't follow... That last line was said by Cyril...

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

REVIEW PLEASE!

because I'M going to sleep! now 2:10am...

oh well...

INSANE AWAYYYYYYYY!


	23. The Deal

**Anonymous review replies!**

**Big fan from far away:** Again, hope you like the fast update...! It's past midnight, and I don't care! so... enjoy!

There's a lot you said that I don't really want to comment on, because I'd be here all morning, (since it's already 2am... again...)

but, long story short... Just because you don't write anything, doesn't mean you can't make an account on here...

I mean, look at ...insert link... Fanfictionlover4444... or at least I think that's his name... Last time I checked, he hadn't written a thing, yet had hundreds of favourited stories... just because you don't write anything, doesn't mean it's a bad idea to create an account... just means you get e-mails when I post a chapter (if you sign up...) and get e-mails when you get a PM...

But yeah... glad to know that my writing style has grabbed another fan... It's kinda snowballed from when I started back in '07... or at least I think it was '07...

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Ok... HI PEOPLE! I should probably feel tired, but I'm not... so...

I wrote this...

ENJOY!

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**Chapter 23:** **The Deal**

"Ember, Flame, what are you hiding from me?" Cyril looked down at the two young dragons, attempting to get information from them.

"What do you mean what are we hiding? It's nothing, really." Ember tried to cover for Flame, she didn't want anything to do with it, but didn't want to move onto worse terms with Spyro and Cynder.

"If it's nothing, then why not just tell me?"

"Because it wasn't about anything. We were bored, so came up with things that would be strange to come across, you just happened to appear when we mentioned your name." Flame, although quite often is as simple to read as a book, could come up with interesting, elaborate lies to get himself out of trouble. This moment couldn't have come at a better time.

Cyril lifted his gaze from the two young dragons, scanning the horizon for any form of movement. Contemplating Flame's excuse and whether or not it was legitimate, opting to take the safe route, Cyril naturally assumed he was lying. "As much as I'd like to believe that, I have other pressing matters. Have either of you seen Spyro or Cynder?" Cyril continued his search of the area deeming it empty, returning his gaze to the young dragons. "I saw you two fly across the forest before, and wondered if you had seen them."

"As far as I know they were spending today inside." Flame covered once again.

"But if we see them we'll say you want to talk to them." Ember quickly added, trying to convince the ice guardian to leave them alone. She only disliked Cyril's presence due to his overbearing and restricted rules, but, like any carer, it was only natural for Ember to feel cut off from living due to the guidelines.

Accepting their aid in getting in contact with both Spyro and Cynder, Cyril left both Ember and Flame to themselves on the ridge centralised in the small clearing.

"Well, that was close."

"You did hear that he said he didn't believe us Flame, right?"

Flame nodded his head slightly. "But he's gone, isn't he?"

"You're right, so I guess you deserve some credit." Ember turned away from Flame and flared her wings out after seeing Cyril disappear inside the temple. "Come on, we have to tell Spyro and Cynder."

"Do you think they're finished?" Flame questioned, having lost track of time just watching the afternoon sky.

Ember only turned her head back. "It's been long enough, besides, I think they'll actually want to know that Cyril was looking for them so they can build up a lie as opposed to telling him what they were really doing."

Flame moved to Ember's side and prepped himself to take flight. "You're right. Do you remember where they were?"

"Near enough to it."

Spyro and Cynder had flown outside the cave and found a small river nearby where they could clean themselves from their lovemaking. Spyro himself was laying on the riverbank in the afternoon sunlight, warming himself from the initial cool of the river. Cynder, on the other hand found it harder to clean her scales, taking a slightly longer time to remove the rest of the evidence that they had mated. She didn't know, however, what the outcome of their actions was to bring. If she was to become a mother from their mating was unknown, and would remain unknown to Cynder and Spyro until something was visibly growing inside Cynder. "When are we going to head back?" Spyro asked Cynder who had just lifted her head above the slow current once more.

"We could now if you want, the water's nice though."

"Too cold for me." Spyro rolled onto his back, sunning his underside, warming the rest of his form. "You look like you're having fun though."

Cynder took a drink from the river before replying. "It's not as fun as you think." Her gaze shot to the sky as she saw two other dragons circling above them. "Looks like we have company though."

Spyro almost immediately shot to his feet, wondering who it was who was out here so late in the afternoon. There was just over an hour of daylight left.

As the two circling dragons descended to the forest floor Cynder had made it to Spyro's side seeing that it was Ember and Flame. "We need to talk." Ember spoke first, taking a step forward, Cynder immediately mirroring her movements, only taking a defensive stance towards her rival.

"Uh, Spyro? Didn't you talk to Cynder about this?" Flame quickly spoke, putting himself between both Cynder and Ember.

Spyro himself thought back to the last time he saw Flame, remembering that he was supposed to talk to Cynder about Ember's wish to make peace. He scratched his head for a second. "No, I don't think so."

"Well can you do something about it like, now?" Flame responded seeming urgent, as Cynder didn't seem to have any focus beyond Ember.

Spyro immediately took hold of one of Cynder's forelegs, dragging her off with him back several paces. "What are you doing Cynder?"

"What do you mean what am I doing? She tried to kill me!"

"I know, and this is actually my fault. Flame talked to me the other day and told me to tell you that Ember wished to make a truce with you since she now has Flame."

"And you said yes on my behalf?"

"No, I said I would talk to you about it, which I had managed to forget because of what we've been going through ourselves." Cynder glanced back towards Ember and Flame, who were also in full conversation.

"And she expects me to believe that?"

"Cynder, please. Try to be reasonable. I know that you both have had a long history, but this is no different from you and Sparx. And since sometimes I am going to want to talk to Flame and Ember is always going to be beside him, can you at least consider it?"

Cynder took a deep breath and thought herself through. "Oh, and congratulations to you both." Flame spoke up, causing both Spyro and Cynder to turn around, and look back, wondering why Flame would say such a thing.

Both Spyro and Cynder looked at each other, then back to Flame. "For what?" They both said at once.

"For officially becoming mates. Why else would I say it?"

Again both Spyro and Cynder looked at each other. "What are you talking about?" Cynder was immediately the first to take the defensive.

"Cynder, we saw you both, so you don't have to try and hide it." Both Spyro and Cynder gained looks of shock towards the other couple. "Don't be like that, we only saw what we needed to prove that it was you two."

"Why were you looking for us to begin with?" Cynder asked.

"That's my fault, Flame and I were flying overhead when I caught the scent of your happenings."

"Thankfully it didn't get me because I'm alre-" Ember elbowed Flame in the ribs, immediately causing him to stop his sentence.

"That's ok Flame, we both know about you too." Cynder spoke. "Spyro saw you two that night."

This time it was Ember and Flame's turn to look shocked. "So you two knew all along?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Spyro confessed.

"What do you mean unfortunately?" Ember questioned immediately.

"It's not exactly what you call nice looking in on a couple mating. But you two obviously had no problems with it."

"We didn't see anything but the backs of your heads, would you say unfortunately if you saw that? The only reason we knew you two were mating was because of the scent in the air. And even then, the only reason we wanted to know who it was is because we wanted to know who else actually wanted to break Cyril's stupid rules." Ember was fighting to defend her reasons, receiving no back-up from Flame.

"Are you two done already?" Cynder stepped forward. "Great, Spyro saw you and Ember saw us. So now that we all know that we're mated with each other, why did you come out to find us now?"

"Oh, I almost forgot." Flame re-assumed the dragon's attention. "Cyril is looking for you two-"

"Or at least I was." Once again, to Ember and Flame anyway, Cyril stepped forward from behind a thick growth of shrubs. "What is wrong with you all? Don't you care about your future?"

"I only did this to protect everyone else." Cynder fought. "The reason why I attacked those two was because they were seducing Spyro, and the only thing I could do to stop them was fight. Would you rather us follow your rules while I slowly cut down, one-by-one, the countless dragons that want Spyro as their mates?"

"Yes, but-"

"And it wasn't just to break your rules, Spyro refused to do anything until I nearly killed those two who tried to take him as theirs. He saw firsthand how close they came to dying, if I hadn't have told you about them then they'd probably be dead by now anyway."

"I know, an-"

"So how are you going to punish us this time? The same way you made an example of Flame and Ember? Oh, wait, they got away with it despite your rules. So the only reason you keep following us is because of Spyro. Is that right? Because everyone wants a piece of him you had to try and keep us 'open' for as long as possible, is that right?"

"Cynder please! I know that I might not have been entirely fair on you and Spyro, and I must apologise for that-"

"So what are you going to do to us?"

"Nothing." All four of the young dragons exchanged glances, wondering if the ice guardian was trying to hide something else from them.

"You're not going to do nothing, we-"

"But I am Ember. I know that Cynder's reasons prove to make her actions, more or less, acceptable due to the insane lust all dragoness's possess to be with Spyro." Spyro rolled his eyes at the comment, he was sick of being followed by everyone. "And dealing with constant life-threatening injuries isn't something anyone wishes to deal with on a daily basis. Although I, myself frown upon her actions, both Volteer and Terrador will appreciate the lack of the injured needed to be taken care of in the process."

"But won't they be suspicious?"

"That they are. Which is why I am giving you four a choice. Due to that fact of both Volteer and Terrador becoming suspicious, it shall be you, Cynder, who has to tell them what has happened."

"Where's the choice in that?" Cynder argued.

"If you wish to be with Spyro every night, then you shall inform the other guardians, and live with what requests they have of you at any given moment. Or, we can pretend that nothing happened and go back to our lives."

"How is that fair with Ember and Flame?" Spyro questioned further.

"I am offering them the same deal. If Ember is to confront the other guardians then she and Flame shall be able to stay with one another. Or, remain as is and ignore my offer." Cyril turned around and headed back towards the mess of shrubbery from which he emerged. "If you four wish to have no life, and care for hatchlings constantly until the end of your days, then sobeit. I tried to protect you from that lifestyle, but it seems that you are intent on ignoring my advice and breaking the rules. So, enjoy what little free-time you have, because you won't find it again if you continue to ignore my warnings."

"Well, that's not fair." Cynder complained. "Why do I have to do it?"

"Because it was our idea to begin with." Ember answered. "We were the ones who initiated the mating process."

"But it's not our faults that they agreed."

"Yes it is Cynder. I only did this for you."

"And Ember basically forced herself on me." Flame received a hard glare from Ember. "Not that I'm complaining or anything. I'm happy you did."

"So why is telling both Volteer and Terrador such a big deal to make?" Cynder questioned the rest of the group.

"As far as I know, Volteer would want to run tests on us to prove whether or not we're bearing eggs." Ember answered. "But Terrador I'm not so sure. I never even thought he had an interest in anything beyond fighting."

"So, the sooner you tell them, the sooner Volteer does his test on you, the sooner we can ignore them?" Flame basically summed up the issue.

"Hang on, don't I get a say in this?" Ember complained. "I don't want him running tests on me, I'm not just some experiment that he can do what he wants with."

"But that was the deal. Confront the other guardians and live with their requests at any given moment." Flame answered. "I wonder how long that lasts."

"It could take forever. But then what's stopping any other couple from doing what we have and taking Cyril up on the offer anyway?"

"I think it's only for us." Spyro finally spoke up.

"Why only for us? What did we do?"

"Well, we all had a hand in the war, right? Ember, Flame and I fought against-"

"My armies…" Cynder solemnly finished.

"Er- Right. While both Cynder and I defeated Malefor."

"So that's it. Cyril is giving us preference because of what we did during the war?"

"Most likely. Or he's offering it to us because both Spyro and I were made an example of while you two were getting away with mating in the background." Cynder shot back at Ember and Flame.

"It's better than lying awake at night wondering how he knew that we had mated in the first-place." Ember argued back. "To think that Cyril himself had watched you is really creepy."

"Believe me, it's something I would rather forget." Spyro added to Ember's comment.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ember shouted towards Spyro.

"Ember calm down." Cynder spoke quietly. "So, which of us are going to tell them first?"

* * *

Ok, wow...

I don't know how I'm doing this...

Once again I find myself awake at 2 in the morning posting this story, but, I don't feel tired or anything, so I just didn't stop...

Ok, we have a break in the plot! So I can do one of several things at this intersection...

(And might I say, Cyril is kinda annoying having followed Ember and Flame around... Oh well... The part of the story that concerns him is pretty much over...)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this... because, once more, I found myself just throwing words from the back of my mind into the keyboard... Which was painful as I now have a lump on the back of my head... (it's a joke people... you can laugh...)


	24. But it Gets Worse

**Chapter 24:** **… But it gets worse**

All four dragons landed in the entryway of the dragon temple. The sun setting down beyond the horizon, bathing the two couple's backs in the waning sunlight, signalling that another day was drawing to a close yet again.

"Looks like we'll have to wait until tomorrow to get our freedom." Flame broke the silence.

"It's not like the night will go on forever." Cynder responded. "I'm sure you can live another night alone."

"Y'know, I've been thinking, what would the others think if they knew?" Spyro asked as the four walked through the corridors.

"If they knew we could sleep together?" Ember questioned in return, receiving a nod from Spyro. "I guess we have to try and keep it from them. Instead of just walking through the door, we might just have to take the window."

"I suppose that's a good idea." Spyro replied, stopping at his door. "I'll see you guys later sometime." He said towards Flame and Ember, receiving a farewell from the two, leaving himself and Cynder at Spyro's room. "It's nice that they fixed my door so quickly. Looks brand new." He joked, admiring the framework.

"At least they fixed it I guess. Although you're not going to be staying long."

"So we're going to be sleeping in your room then?"

"Not all the time, but, I like my room. It's quiet and out-of-the-way."

"Meaning that we're more alone." Spyro clarified, causing Cynder to nod slowly, a sly grin forming. "Cynder, you know that I don't want to risk us becoming parents."

"There are other things we can do you know Spyro."

"I know." Spyro turned around and faced back down the corridor they came through. "But right now, I'm starved. Let's get something to eat."

Dawn broke and the sun's light streamed through Cynder's curtains bathing her in a soft light. Specks of light caused by the dragoness' scales danced around the room as she shifted her face out of the direct sunlight. As the sun had risen though, Cynder's attempt to continue her sleep was swept away by the increasingly powerful rays of light, heating her scales above what was considered a comfortable temperature to the black dragon.

Forcing herself up onto her legs, Cynder stretched out her forelegs and tail, taking a step forward and mirroring the motions with her hind legs. The female dragon walked to her window and moved the curtain out of her way, allowing her to look out the window and scan to see if anything had changed from yesterday.

Nothing had, yet, anyway.

Cynder leapt out her window and flew over the dragon temple to the other side of the building to see if Spyro was awake. She knew the answer was no as Spyro seemed to enjoy sleep much more than herself.

Drifting over the roof of the temple, Cynder descended to the other side and swooped around and pulled up at Spyro's room, perching herself on the windowsill looking in to her purple mate.

Spyro had himself curled tightly, his head resting atop his four legs, and tail wrapping around the limbs holding them in place. Cynder considered waking him, but he looked so cute. _Maybe he's cold._ Cynder thought, stepping into Spyro's room, she silently stepped onto his bed, and lay behind him, draping one of her wings over her mate.

There was no reaction at all from Spyro, Cynder watched him to make sure he didn't wake up. But all she could see was the rise and fall of his body. Cynder curled her head around, laying it over her wing, closing her eyes and resting, if not just for a short while. Although she has known Spyro for sleeping in often.

"So that's why Cyril has been acting so strangely." Volteer spoke towards Terrador who were standing before Ember, whom had just informed the two guardians of her relationship status with Flame. "That at least explains his actions, so how do you explain yours?"

"I can't. I acted against the rules because I wanted to. Because I hated being alone as myself, and I didn't want to lose-"

"Alright, your reasons don't matter. What's done is done." Terrador cut off the pink dragoness. "Why are you telling us this if you had somehow managed to convince Cyril to not inform us?"

"I am telling you both because an agreement has been made between Flame, myself and Cyril. If I was to inform you both, and adhere to the consequences that each of you deemed necessary, then Flame and I would be allowed to share a room."

Both Volteer and Terrador exchanged glances. Questioning the reason that Ember had come before them. A door behind the two guardians opened, revealing the third guardian to be revealed. "Ah, Cyril. Good that you're here." Volteer started.

"So Ember has told you both?"

"That she has, but we both refuse to believe that you would allow her and Flame to share a room if this meeting had taken place."

"That is correct." Cyril confirmed, continuing to speak at a volume Ember couldn't make out.

"Are you sure?" Terrador asked, as if not believing what his fellow guardian had explained to him. Cyril nodded once, then turned around and left the two remaining to consider what they should do about the issue.

"Ember, I want you and Flame to meet me in the training room when Volteer is finished." Terrador started. "I shall be there until midday." He turned his attention to Volteer. "That is all I have decided so far."

Terrador then turned around and left the same way Cyril had moments ago. "Now, Ember. Tell me. When did this happen?"

"About three days ago."

"Hmm, that means we need to run a few tests." She knew from Cyril that this is what Volteer would've come up with. "Follow me please." Volteer turned to his right, and headed out a different door to the one both Cyril and Terrador had taken.

The two walked down a corridor and ended up in another room almost on the exact opposite side of the building to where the dragon's quarters were. "It has been many years since I've had to do one of these." Volteer muttered to himself, searching the cupboards and cabinets lining the walls of the room. Several beds lay on the far side of the room, with a bare table centralised in the room. "Just take a seat Ember, I just need to find a few things."

Ember followed instruction, moving over to the middle bed on the far side, finding it almost twice as comfortable as the bed in her room. Immediately lying down and relaxing.

"Ah, there we are." He let out a sigh of relief for a reason unknown to Ember. Turning around while holding a fairly large jar, placing it on the centre table. Lifting off the lid, the electric guardian pulled out what looked to Ember like a short, yet slightly wide, rod. "Now, these are fairly fragile so you must be careful when handling it."

Volteer stepped forward to where Ember was laying down. "What am I supposed to do with it?"

"Well," The electric guardian flicked off a cap covering one end of the device. "See how this is clear now?" He motioned to the other end of the rod, receiving a nod from Ember. "About five minutes after you insert the other end into your vagina, it should change colour. If it turns blue, you are going to be a parent, if it turns red, then you're clean." Volteer handed the rod to Ember and turned around, picking up the jar and placing it back in the cupboard. "I'll leave you for ten minutes and be back to check the results."

"But won't I be able to tell what colour it is?"

"Why of course, yes, you would. But there are other tests I wish to run before you must be off to see Terrador. I shall inform Flame of the happenings and bring him here. Seeing as he's probably wondering where you are right now."

Volteer exited the room while Ember considered what choice she had. And that was none. Rolling onto her back she prepared to get herself tested, without becoming over stimulated.

"Ah, Cynder. We were wondering if you were ever going to turn up." Terrador started, looking upon the young black dragoness. "Why did you wish to arrange a meeting with Volteer and myself?"

Midday had passed, and Cynder had arranged with both Terrador and Volteer to meet them at this time. Spyro was standing outside the door, as per Cynder's request, as Cyril had stated that she had to inform them, not Spyro. "I'm actually here because of Cyril." The two guardians spoke a few words between themselves.

"Go on." Volteer motioned with one of his forepaws.

"And because I'm here, I actually have to tell you both that I haven't entirely followed the rules. There-"

"Stop there Cynder." Volteer interrupted the young dragoness. "Does this, by any chance, have anything to do with the reason that Ember was here earlier today?"

"Ember has already seen you both about it?"

"See? I told you." Terrador rolled his eyes as Volteer continued. "So if this is for the same reason that Ember was here, that means you and Spyro are mated, correct?" Cynder simply nodded. "So you have the same agreement with Cyril?"

"Yes."

"Very well, both you and Spyro shall follow me as there are some things we need to sort out."

"And when you're finished you both can find me in the training room." Terrador added, who immediately turned around and left the room.

Cynder moved back to the entryway and waved Spyro inside, both dragons following Volteer down the same passage Ember had many hours ago. Entering the same room as before, Volteer immediately went to the right cupboard and pulled out the same jar.

"I remember when I had to do this several times a day." The electric guardian observed of himself. "Just like before the war." He pulled out one of the rods and passed it to Cynder. "Alright, now, within about five minutes we'll know if you're both to become parents or not."

"Wait, so Ember did this test earlier today?" Spyro asked.

"Yes, she did. Now-"

"Are her and Flame to be parents?"

"Fortunately, no. Not this time at least. Thankfully though no-one was at fault. But that's not of any concern to you." Volteer returned his attention to Cynder. "See how there is a cap on one end? If you take that off, and insert the end into your vagina, it should tell us whether or not you're to become parents." Volteer turned around to leave the room. "Spyro, it is advised that you are not in the room during this process. Instead there is something you must do."

Spyro followed Volteer and left Cynder alone in the room, moving across the hall, a different room was entered, this one almost a mirror opposite to the one Cynder was left in. "Why is this room the same as the other one?"

"But it's not the same Spyro."

"It looks the same to me."

"Ah, Spyro you are so naïve."

"Then what is it for?"

"At the moment, it's to keep you away from Cynder. But it might have a use depending on what the result is."

Spyro moved to the end of the room and laid down on one of the beds. "Can you tell me what Terrador is planning?"

"I could, if I knew what he had waiting for you myself. But unfortunately, I don't. Although you could ask Ember or Flame if they were around, they both spent all morning in the training room."

"Which would explain why I never saw them." Spyro took a nervous glance to the floor.

"Relax Spyro. It can't be any worse than what Cyril put both you and Cynder through the other day."

Images of the event flooded back to Spyro, mostly the ones he wished to remain suppressed. Unfortunately for Spyro though, Volteer ceased his contribution to the conversation, leaving Spyro to his thoughts for the rest of the time they had spent waiting. "Alright, that should be more than enough time."

Both Spyro and the electric guardian crossed the corridor, alerting Cynder to their presence at the door before proceeding inwards. Spyro immediately looked for Cynder, who had a look of relief upon her. Holding up the rod a clear red filling the centre of it. Indicating that they too were safe from parenthood. Spyro immediately bounded across the room and nuzzled against Cynder, who returned his affection. "Alright, enough you two." Volteer's voice forced separation between the two young dragons, however Volteer took a more solemn tone, lowering his voice to whispers entirely. "But it could be what I feared."

"So we can go to Terrador now?"

Volteer returned his attention to the two young dragons before him. "Yes, yes. He shall be waiting for you." Volteer watched as the two dragons left the room and headed down the corridor towards the training room.

Volteer cleared the table of the remaining testing rods and headed back to the guardian's quarters, finding Cyril at his desk, which was unusual as of late. "I'm glad to report that both Ember and Cynder have avoided parenthood."

"That is good then. We don't want hatchlings running around again, it was hard enough all those years ago."

"Yes, but, I am worried about both Spyro and Cynder."

"Why is that?" Cyril sounding genuinely concerned, as Volteer always took matters seriously.

"As you and I both well know, it is the purple dragon genes that get passed down through generations until the next one is born."

"Yes, go on."

"Well, if my theory's prove true, then we may never have another purple dragon after Spyro if Cynder is unable to conceive."

"How are you sure?"

"Many of the tests I had run on Cynder during, and just after, the war, led me to several conclusions that indicated that some form of magic was at work on her body still. But I could never figure out why. Now I believe I understand that Malefor knew that Spyro would fall for Cynder, and, eventually, take her as a mate."

"What does this all mean?"

"It means that, well, I believe it means that somehow the magic Malefor cast on her then is still working now, rendering Cynder unable to bear young. Although the source is still unknown to me, I believe I might still be able to undo what has been done."

"If what you're telling me is true, then we may have to deliver some bad news to those two, and I'm sure they won't take too kindly to it."

* * *

OH NO I DIDN'T!

OH YES I DID!

OH NO YOU CAN'T!

OH YES I CAN!

but why?

You will all find out... later...

But yes, for now... You can all hate my guts...

But anyway, back to the pressing issues...

I am uploading this out of what little kindness I have remaining for the day...

and since Saturday just started about 20 minutes ago, I don't have much left to give...

To those of you who haven't received this message via reply to a PM you sent me... Read this next part very carefully...

* * *

do NOT ask about when the next update is

do NOT ask for me to write it faster

and most certainly to NOT beg, plead, offer fake treats, try to sound concerned or even CONSIDER trying to contact me if all you're going to say is "when is the next update!"

the updates come out: when they're ready... when they're written... when I god-damn fucking well want to post them...

ok?

got it?

good...

I will not repeat myself again for ANYONE...

and anyone who does ask about it, is only making the wait longer for everyone else, and they find themselves on the banned list...

no more warnings, I'm over it already...

average night,

I'm tired

now get out...

any complaints?

yes?

i don't care...

period...

goodnight Spyro fans


	25. Mateship Rivalry

**Chapter 25:** **Mateship Rivalry**

"So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Ember asked Flame who both were walking down the corridor away from their now shared room.

"I don't care as long as it's not what Volteer got me to do."

"Surely it couldn't have been that bad, if it turned out that we were going to be parents then we wouldn't have had to do anything else but wait. But I'm happy we still get to live our lives instead of being tied down the whole time."

"I think I'd rather go through the tests again than cart around food and other things for you all day." Flame and Ember stepped out the main gate of the dragon temple. "And if I was doing that we'd spend more time away from each other than together."

Ember sighed slightly. "I guess you're right. But we'd spend the nights together."

"All I'd do is sleep since I would've been running around all day. You'd be the one wide awake and full of energy."

Ember sighed as she leapt from the temple gate and took flight over the forest, with no particular destination other than 'away' in her mind, with Flame following closely behind. "I still feel sorry for Spyro and Cynder."

"Why do you feel sorry for them? We had to do the guardian's 'consequences' too you know."

"Yeah, I know. But knowing what they're going into, I wouldn't mind watching to see their reactions."

"Like yours was when we found out what we had to do?" Flame joked towards Ember, who immediately glared at him in return.

"Like yours was when you first struck me?" Flame now only could manage a sheepish look of apology.

"You know I had no choice. Besides, I let you win in the end anyway." Ember rolled her eyes. "Not my fault I couldn't bear to see you in pain."

Both Spyro and Cynder walked into the training room, finding the entire area void of everything but Terrador, standing at the far end of the room. "Hurry up you two." He called down the empty room, causing somewhat of an echo for the two young dragons, causing them both to almost double their step-rate at the sound of him. Momentarily they both sat down just before the earth guardian, making sure to leave a three foot gap between each other. "Alright, now, I am going to say this once, and believe me when I say that no matter what damage you do, there is a life gem waiting for you both." Spyro and Cynder glanced between each other, wondering what he was getting at. "Unless you don't follow the rules. In which case, your partner will not receive the gem."

"So what is the rule? And what are we doing anyway." Spyro asked.

"You both are to have a sparring match in full contact. No powers may be used against the other." This caused both Spyro and Cynder to look worriedly between each other. "And if you go easy on your opponent in any strike after the opening minute, your partner shall not receive a life gem to heal themselves with afterwards."

"Then how long are we fighting for?" Cynder asked, worried about striking Spyro without restriction.

"Until one of you can't continue." That almost ended it for Spyro. He never wanted to even think about fighting against Cynder during the war, let alone fighting her now. But, to make it seem like a fight to the death was almost cruel by the earth guardian, as if trying to force the past back against the two of them.

Spyro looked towards Cynder who didn't seem so phased by the idea of fighting against him. Sure, Spyro could pick up distinct hatred from Cynder's expression of the idea, but in the end, what choice did the two have?

"Are there any questions?"

"No, I will not fight her." Spyro stood forward. "I don't care what happens, but I refuse to fight against Cynder just like during the war. I can't do it."

"Then I guess that leaves Cynder with two choices. She can go ahead with what I have stated, or, you can both leave and I'll inform Cyril that the task has not been completed."

"What, so you mean I fight Spyro while he does nothing?"

"That is option one, correct."

"Why are you making us do this?" Spyro questioned with ire.

"Because since you both have no regard for breaking the rules, I wonder that if in pitting you both against each other maybe you can understand that no matter how much you want to do something, you will always have to face challenges to reach what you desire. Yes, this may be a little extreme, but, in the entire sense of the lesson I'm trying to teach you, nothing is ever easy."

"We both know that nothing is easy." Spyro continued

"And yet you wasted little time in breaking the rules. Was that easy for you?"

"No, it wasn-"

"Then my point stands." Terrador interrupted the purple male. "No matter how you look at it Spyro, there is no other way around problems that you will face in your future. If Cynder turned out to bear young from your actions then it wouldn't be easy for her to birth it. It wouldn't be easy to raise it, and it certainly wouldn't be easy to watch it grow up and leave you both after the first two years of its life." Terrador took a step forward and turned Spyro around with one arm. "Now, you can either ignore my advice and avoid this little issue now, having to hide what all us guardians know you're both doing, and take punishment for doing so in the first place. Or, you can deal with it now and be free to do whatever you wanted whenever you pleased for as long as you lived within the walls of this temple. The choice is yours Spyro, Cynder. If you want to talk it over and try to reach an agreement, then you have five minutes. At the end of which I will ask for your decision and act accordingly." Terrador turned around and walked to the far end of the room, leaving both Spyro and Cynder to their thoughts, and each other.

"Spyro? Why is this such a big deal to you?"

"Because I don't want to fight you Cynder. The last time I fought against you was when Malefor had control over you. And I never want to have any memory of that moment again! And doing this will only bring back memories of what you were, and I don't want to know what you were because I love you for who you are now."

Cynder lowered her head. She was never happy with her past, she only wished that she had a chance to forget it all and move on with her life without having a scenario turn up that left the memories clawing at the back of her mind. "Spyro, you know that I'll never be like that again. The only person who has influence over me is you. Spyro, if you can't do this, then I won't force anything onto you." She took a step backwards and lightened her tone slightly. "Besides, I think it could be a little fun."

"What about this could be fun Cynder? Do you actually want to have a match against me?"

"No, Spyro. It's not something that I want to do, I just think that it would be interesting to see which one of us was actually stronger."

"You can't answer that by having us fight against each other. You know that I don't want to hurt you so I'd lose no matter what happened."

Cynder took a step forward. "Spyro, Terrador was right, there are no easy steps in life. If we want to become closer sometimes we need to step back and do something that isn't normal to us." She nuzzled against Spyro for a few moments before pulling back again. "What is ten minutes of torture for the rest of our life here of happiness? I know it's not an easy thing to agree to, or a good thing to say, but, this is the only time we have to do this for the rest of our lives."

"But I-"

"Spyro, please. If you're not going to do this for yourself, do it for me."

Spyro sighed. What choice did he have? Although he morally objected to the prospect of attacking Cynder purely due to the fact that they were mates, it was something she wanted to do, just because of what they'd be free of in the future. "Alright. I'll do it. But never again will we speak of this moment after it's done. I don't want to remember what you were."

"Then you never shall."

Spyro turned around and Cynder walked to his side, making their way to the far side of the room where Terrador was standing, arranging weight blocks for any dragon who decided to train on their own. "So, you two have reached a decision?"

"Yes, we'll do it." Cynder spoke.

"Then you shall begin in one minute. Remember, you can't use your powers. No attacks aimed at the tails, although you may attack using it, and no penalty will be given if the tail is used in an attempt to block an attack. I will block any life-threatening blows should one look dangerous. And the end of the match will be shown by either a winning strike blocked by myself, or the opposition being unable to continue." Terrador stepped towards the centre of the training room which was effectively a large arena. "Take your places on either side of the room." Spyro headed off Terrador's right side while Cynder towards the left. "Are there any questions?"

"Yes! I have one." Cynder spoke up, acquiring the attention of Spyro and Terrador. "Can you tell us who won between Flame and Ember?"

"Flame was much like Spyro about the idea, and in the end that was his downfall. Ember won purely by Flame's slowed movements just because he was fighting Ember. It only proves to me further that you are weakened by emotions clouding your judgement. An opponent is an opponent no matter which way you look at it. It is either you or them who are going to lose the fight, and sometimes loss means death."

"So you're using this as a training exercise for us both?" Spyro questioned.

"Nice of you to pick up on that Spyro. You must always be aware of your opponent, but never more than you have to, because your feelings can distract you in battle. Which means you could lose your life." Terrador glanced between both Spyro and Cynder, who stood in position. "You may begin. Good luck to you both, and may the best fighter become victorious."

Cynder immediately stepped forward to the centre of the room, immediately halving the distance between her and Spyro. She knew Spyro's fighting style so well due to the number of fights they had won together, but on the other hand, he knew who she fought. So if Cynder was to win, then she'd have to change her style enough to throw Spyro off, yet keep it within her grasp of what was, to her, a normal fight.

Spyro on the other hand had been taught to fight many ways during the war, he had been taught by more races throughout Avalar than there were dragons staying at the temple. But unfortunately over the years he had forgotten most of them as he had come up with his own. Although the stipulation of the spar was that he couldn't use his elemental breath attacks which had aided so much during the war against the apes and Malefor's countless other minions. So the best thing for Spyro to do in his mind would be to watch Cynder's attack style, and mirror it back against her as best he could. As it was the most unpredictable thing he could come up with at the time.

Spyro slowly stepped his way forward, closing the distance between Cynder and himself to just over an arms-length away. The two circled around each other, neither one wanting to make the first strike. But as Spyro stepped around the circle which Cynder had started, something caught his eye, there was a faint glimmer of red outside one of the windows, causing Spyro to immediately try and figure out the source.

Cynder seized the opportunity and swung her tail around catching the slow-to-react Spyro on his right foreleg, leaving a deep gash with the first strike. "That was uncalled for! I saw something outside!"

"So did I Spyro, but your opponent isn't outside, is she?"

Spyro growled to himself, immediately gaining a limp on his right leg due to the impressive power behind Cynder's strike. It almost left the limb completely useless to Spyro, it was hardly strong enough to support a part of his weight, let alone to be able to strike with it.

Cynder knew she had taken an early lead. Yes, it took advantage of Spyro's naturally curious nature, but any excuse to gain a victory. Cynder knew she had to press the attack if she wanted to win. Although Spyro's injury wasn't going to get any better, the longer she waited the better on his feet he became, getting used to the feel of only having three legs.

Leaping forward with her forelegs extended, Cynder aimed towards Spyro's unharmed left side. A strike to his rear left leg would severely cripple his movements almost immediately rendering her the victor. And so that is where she aimed. Cynder planted her left foreleg, swinging the rest of her form around extending her right hind leg to aim at Spyro's left one. Spyro, however flapped his wings once, pulling himself over Cynder's swinging form, landing himself behind her taking a strike at the same leg she aimed for on him.

The pain was immediate, but Cynder couldn't help but feel that Spyro held back on the attack. It would've done the same amount of damage as she had on his foreleg originally, but she felt that he could've done much more against her than he did. Cynder, thrown out of balance, collapsed onto the floor from the lack of use of her left hind leg, Spyro hesitantly trying to capitalise on the moment. Wasting several seconds before moving towards Cynder, but that was the time she needed. As Spyro had pushed himself forward to try and come from above, Cynder had rolled onto her side, dodging Spyro's straight down strike, once again catching him with her tail-blade, rendering his other foreleg damaged, at best. Cynder pushed herself back onto a standing base, Watching as Spyro tried to manage himself without the ease of use of both his forelegs. Eventually he found a vertical base, standing on only his hind legs using his wings and tail for balance.

Spyro's movements were awkward and sluggish, but she knew that he would be able to strike quickly if necessary, although it was funny to see him like that. If she stared hard enough Cynder possibly could've found Spyro's dragonhood. But not only wasn't it the time to think about Spyro like that, it was the main reason she was doing this in the first place. To have the freedom to do whatever they wanted whenever they pleased without risk of punishment by the guardians.

Cynder watched as Spyro had closed his eyes, either trying to gain some form of movement over his forelegs, which just seemed to dangle at his sides at the time, or he was preparing to try and attack. But what could he attack with? Cynder found asking herself. Spyro then leant forward, placing his forepaws on the ground, if only for a moment, just to recoil them and pull himself back to a vertical position.

Cynder knew that she had to strike again and try to win this before Spyro started to look any more pathetic. Cynder made a brief thought on what would be the best way to attack Spyro. His back seemed easiest, always, just because it was out of sight, but with both his forelegs less useful than her left hind leg, she figured the head-on approach was the best way to go. Cynder sprung herself forward using her remaining good hind-leg, using her wings to stabilise as she bounded closer to Spyro, who had opened his eyes and looked determined. Cynder feigned to go right, as she had a good spring back into the middle with her working hind leg, and everything looked as if it was going perfectly.

Spyro mirrored Cynder's movements by leaning to his left, trying to stay away from where Cynder was to be aiming to go. Stepping off her outside leg, she flung herself towards Spyro, who lowered his head and sprung himself towards Cynder, his head lowered aiming at her chest with his horns.

There was a loud crack of stone as both Spyro and Cynder dropped where they stood. A thin could of dust obscuring the view of what had happened to everyone but Terrador, who had stopped the fight. "Alright, that will do." Terrador turned his head around and dug out of one of the bags at the side of the room two life gems. One for each Spyro and Cynder. After the dust had cleared Spyro found himself to have a massive headache, and Cynder felt as if she had been winded. "Spyro wins this one, if only just. Cynder you became a little confident at the end and didn't defend your underbelly, which is where Spyro managed to make a clean strike with both his horns." Terrador stopped by Cynder, giving her the life gem which was almost immediately absorbed, as she found herself as if nothing had ever happened. "Now originally I wasn't going to give you this Spyro, because we all know that you took it easy on Cynder. But since you actually won the fight, I guess I can't judge you as I did against Flame. But leaving you without a life gem would just be cruel." He gave Spyro the glowing stone and he too found an immediate recovery.

"So that whole rule about going easy on each other was just a lie?" Spyro spoke easily and clearly, like the spar had never happened.

"Of course it was. I wouldn't be a guardian if I let you beat each other half to death and then left you like that."

"So we passed your test?" Cynder spoke, sitting herself beside Spyro.

"Yes, yes. Run along now, I shall inform Cyril of what has happened between you two."

* * *

Alrighty, the big ass angry cyclone thing has been and gone, and once again I apologise for the lateness of this update... If you didn't know, the category 5 cyclone known as "Yasi" tore through where I live with it's 280+ km/h winds... (what that is in miles... well... let's just say over 150Mp/h approx. for my American/Imperial system user readers)

Anyway, I'm still in one piece...

So is my house...

and I'm going to be given 1k by the government just because they can...

WOOOO! THE SYSTEM WORKS!

anyway, as to what I was thinking about when I came up with this... I have no idea...

I guess it has the reminiscence of chapter 19 all over again... But hopefully not as bad...

I just wanted to write a fight scene for some reason... And what surprised you all is that SPYRO WON!

no idea why I made THAT happen either... Since we all know that in this story she's the one that kicks most ass...

That, and, I never like main characters of games... usually side characters appeal to me more... but that's another story entirely...

So, hope you enjoyed this... hopefully I can continue the main plot within the next two chapters... And hopefully more I'll be able to get the facts right when it comes to making the finale... (insert accent on the "E" in finale)

So, once again, apologies for the lateness, blame the "perfect" storm... Next update eventually...

I need a drink...


	26. Not Quite a Dragoness

**Chapter 26:** **Not Quite a Dragoness**

"Are you comfortable Spyro?" Cynder asked, shifting to the extreme edge of her bed, after noticing Spyro didn't look comfortable.

"I'm fine Cynder, really." Spyro climbed to his feet, re-shaped the single sheet on the bed, and lowered himself back next to Cynder. "This is your room remember, I want you to be comfortable too."

"Don't worry about me Spyro," Cynder tried to reassure the purple male, Spyro not being convinced in the slightest by her words. "I'm just happy that you're here with me, instead of down the hall. It's good to be able to do something in here that isn't sleeping for a change." Spyro rolled his eyes. "Oh Spyro, you know what I mean. It's nice to be able to talk to you after the sun has gone down."

"I know Cynder." The purple dragon draped a wing over his black partner, laying his head down and closing his eyes. "It makes me almost wish we had nothing to do tomorrow."

Cynder gave Spyro a questioned glance. "We haven't had anything to do for weeks, why all of a sudden is it good to have nothing to do? Do you enjoy having nothing to do all day?"

"Of course we've had things to do. What did we have to do today?"

"We didn't have to do that Spyro. And if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't be here together now."

"Then what about yesterday?"

"Spyro, even you didn't want to do that. I only had to threaten you with my life before you agreed to become mates."

"But you see?" Spyro lifted his head and looked back towards Cynder. "We've been doing things all day for the past few weeks. I could name everything if you wanted me to. But in the end, tomorrow will be our first day together when we can actually do nothing."

Cynder stared out through the window, the gentle breeze causing the curtain to whip inwardly at the edges. "I guess you're right Spyro. I-" There was a knock at the door cutting Cynder off. She lowered her voice. "I'll see who it is, if they think we're not supposed to be like this, then stay in the corner." Spyro got up from the bed and stood behind the door. Another few knocks, so perfectly timed that it seemed strange if anyone she knew was actually at her door.

"Cynder, I would like to speak with you for a moment."

Through the wood of the door, Cynder found it hard to tell who it was. Slowly opening it ajar she got a full glance at the visitor. "Volteer? What are you doing here?"

"Ah, yes. You see, from the test today it was proven that you aren't to have a hatchling, but I believe that there might be something else at play."

"At play?" Both Spyro and Cynder questioned to themselves at the same time.

"Yes, well. Not entirely at play, but taking effect on you. But more about that later. I shall require your presence tomorrow morning so I can determine if my assumptions are correct. But I ask that you come alone, as there are matters which Spyro needn't be aware of."

The purple dragon revealed himself from behind the door. "What shouldn't I be aware of?"

"Oh, Spyro. I should've expected to find you here. It's nothing of concern. Believe me, if we had a female guardian she would be here, but, alas, Cyril doesn't know of such matters and Terrador, well, I needn't say anything there. But, it is nothing of concern Spyro, don't worry." Volteer returned his gaze towards Cynder. "Are you busy tomorrow at all?"

"No, we were just saying how tomorrow was our first day to do nothing." Cynder glanced towards Spyro who regretted saying such words.

"Excellent. I shall be ready from sun-up in the same room as today. Come at whichever time you wish, but earlier would prove less time consuming. Have a good night." And with that, the gold guardian turned around and walked back down the corridor.

"I don't have to ask what that is about." Spyro said to himself.

"As long as you know then its fine I guess." Cynder mumbled slightly, closing the door and flicking the latch across, locking it. "I wonder if Ember got called back for another test?"

"I don't know, I guess you can ask her tomorrow. Or I can while you're away. So much for our first day of nothing to do together."

"Spyro. Good that I caught you."

Spyro turned around at hearing his voice, finding it strange that Volteer was the one calling him. "What happened? Is Cynder alright?"

Spyro's immediate worry caught him off-guard. "What do you mean?"

"You called her back for more tests, didn't you?"

"Oh, yes. No, it's nothing, I told you not to worry about it." Volteer walked to Spyro's side, and motioned to continued walking. "I am actually here to ask you a few things while Cynder is waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"Waiting for the test to be completed. It does take some time, but I must know what is going on. Which is why I require you for a moment."

"Me? What do you need me for?" Spyro stopped in his tracks at the electric guardian's request. "Is there something wrong?"

"Of course not. I just need your help for a second, it won't take long."

"I'm not worried about it taking long. I don't have anything to do today. But, why do you need me?" Spyro continued walking alongside the guardian.

"It's nothing really. Just while you're not doing anything, instead of tearing you two apart again, I thought I might use this time to my advantage, and rule out any problems on your behalf."

"For saying that I shouldn't worry that much, something has to be wrong. We're not hatchlings anymore Volteer, we need to be told what's going on."

Volteer stopped and motioned for Spyro to enter the same room as yesterday, Spyro assumed it was across the hall where Cynder was, but was unsure as he hadn't been in this part of the temple often enough to know the way around entirely. "You always were one to question Spyro. Even when I first met you, you wanted to know everything about anything. But for the moment, it's best if you accept that this doesn't need to be known." Volteer walked in behind Spyro, asking him to sit on one of the beds at the far end of the room again. The electric guardian walked up to the centre table and opened a small vial, placing the lid on the surface and stood still for a few moments.

Spyro continued to look around the room, waiting for Volteer to issue him some form of command or task, but, silence. Spyro sat still looking around the room, while Volteer stood at the far end of the table, not saying anything or moving at all. "Hmmm, that's what I thought." Volteer spoke to himself, putting the lid back on the vial and turning back towards the door. "Alright, can you wait at the door to Cynder's room for a moment. After that, you are free to go."

"But I didn't do anything."

"Exactly." Volteer stepped out the door and walked across the hall to enter the room directly opposite it. "Sorry to take so long Cynder, but I was needed elsewhere for a few moments."

"It would be good if you could tell me what is going on." Cynder had lost all patience, she had been in the room for what seemed like all day, and done virtually nothing the whole time. "Or is this just another scheme by Cyril to keep Spyro and I apart for longer?"

"Cynder, please. I assure you that this has nothing to do with Cyril. In fact, this has almost nothing to do with him."

"Then why am I here?"

"Because…" Volteer trailed off, unable to tell the young dragoness the truth.

"Because of what?"

"Cynder you need to understand that I am speaking purely from an assumptive perspective."

"Can you please just tell me what is happening so I can go?"

Volteer took a deep breath, as he prepared to try and tell Cynder what was happening. "Cynder, when you were under Malefor's control, the magic he used on you was to control your mind and body. Of course, the magic controlling your mind has been broken, that was done by Spyro during the war, but, I am positive that the magic is still affecting your body."

Cynder took a step back, noting the focus Volteer used in his expressions, it scared her. "W- what magic?"

"Cynder, I need to know. At any time, over the past few weeks, have you felt an unnatural desire to mate with Spyro? Like you weren't being driven by your own thoughts at the time?"

Cynder was silent for a moment, thinking back over the past few weeks, carefully looking over each detail. "No." Ultimately, finding nothing.

"That's what I was afraid of." Volteer turned to a side, looking out the window, trying to put words together in the best possible way.

"Afraid? Afraid of what?" Cynder was more on-edge than ever. She was worried, scared, wondering what was wrong.

"Cynder, I know that magic is still affecting you because you…" Volteer still found it hard to pick and choose words without sounding cruel.

"What?"

"I mean that, when Malefor had you under his control, he cast spells on you that kept your reproductive system from functioning properly." Cynder took a step back, sitting down on the centre bed at the far end of the room. "Cynder, I'm sorry. I tried everything I could, but I just don't know what is powering the spell." The black dragoness lowered her front-half to the ground, not wanting to believe the words just spoken to her. Volteer stepped forward, closing the gap between himself and Cynder. "I'm sorry Cynder, really. I did everything I could to reverse the spell, but nothing worked." Cynder turned her head away, curling it around the rest of her form. "Do you want me to bring Spyro in?"

"N-no! He c- can't know!" Cynder jumped to her feet, her legs shaking slightly from the overflow of emotion. "I- it would kill him…"

"You can't keep this from him forever Cynder. One day Spyro will want hatchlings of his own."

Cynder collapsed back onto the bed, her tears already staining the material several shades darker. "T- th- they were r- right… I- I- am not g- good enough for s- s- Spyro…"

"Cynder, this is not your fault, and I will find a way to reverse it." Cynder gave no response, only tightening herself into a ball again. Volteer headed towards the door, stepping outside to see Spyro standing there.

"Can I see her?"

"No, she needs some rest. I'm sorry Spyro but she needs some time to recover."

"Recover? What happened?"

"Some of the tests had a few pre-requisites that needed to be filled before they could take place." Volteer lied, keeping Spyro occupied while Cynder could compose herself. "I'm not sure how long she'll be asleep for, but I advise you don't go in to see her, she will come to you."

Volteer continued down the corridor heading into the guardian's chambers, once more finding Cyril standing before the pool of visions, almost waiting for something to occur. "Cyril, I have bad news. My original fears have proven correct, Cynder now knows of her inability to conceive, but Spyro has remained in the dark."

"I guess that's some good news. But I don't know how long it'll take for Spyro to find out."

"I might be able to figure out what is powering the spell before then, hopefully Cynder can keep it to herself for at least a few days."

Cyril nodded, staring back into the body of liquid. "I shall keep an eye on them both, do you have enough information to try and pinpoint the source?"

"It's highly likely. After all, what I may be looking for could be inside Cynder's body. Which would make it almost impossible to find and remove, but I don't find that logical, as such a device could get damaged during combat."

"You don't think it could be something within the temple?"

"No, unless it is something of Cynder's that she brought with her. Otherwise it just wouldn't be possible to leave it here and hope for us to come back. Then again, if the spell is so advanced, then why shouldn't the carrier?"

"I trust that you can solve the problem Volteer. I don't want to be around when Spyro finds out though."

* * *

Alrighty... Before the hordes of protesters start, be warned...

If you send me even the slightest bit of anger in a message, I will rage so hard you'd wish you were awesome enough to hold a gun that shoots shurikens and lightning...

I am not in a good mood, for reasons I don't want to release...

I am not going to be the "drop off" point of angry messages

and I will not take any of such messages lightly, rage is building... Typing speed increased... caps lock enabled...

but any other forms of criticism I find enjoyable, as long as it's not about Cynder being unable to have hatchlings...


	27. Not a chapter Advanced apology

**Alright...**

I know you all saw "NEW CHAPTER" and were all like...

YAYYYYYYY

But that isn't here... yet...

And probably won't be for some time...

The reasons, are as follows:

I WAS in the process of writing a (you're not going to believe this) oneshot between Spy/Cyn... Which would have nothing to do with this story... THAT has been taking all of my writing time as of late, but I'll tell you now, I haven't touched that for several weeks now... But chapter 26 or whatever I'm up to on this story, most likely, will NOT be finished until that has been posted... As for a time on THAT I cannot tell you either...

For some time, as you may all know, I have been struggling with life's issues and getting through it all over the past few years...

Well, it has finally caught up to me...

(For those who don't care about anything other than the story, which I **COMPLETELY** understand, the rest has nothing to do with it, so you can leave now if you wish)

The only reason I am telling you this is because saying "just because" is a fucking bad excuse... (and I can say that because it's an "M" rated story)

So, back to the point...

After many weeks of being prodded and probed by my friends, I saw a Psychologist, who came to the conclusion that I do suffer from Clinical Depression, and have done for quite some time... Probably over the several years I have been complaining about life...

So, for an undetermined amount of time I will fall behind in my writing, since I now KNOW there is a problem I feel like it's even more useless... at least until the drugs kick in anyway... So, I don't know when I will post another chapter or story, but I will not forget about it, and I will still reply to anything anyone has to say... As long as it's not one of those stupid and soppy "DON'T KILL YOURSELF" messages in which case will either be deleted or replied with the giant "FUCK OFF" stamp...

Just be aware that I don't mean anything by it...

Farewell for now, to all my fans

* * *

(Insert signature)


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